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MYPA CLARK GAINES. 



American Fortunes 



AND 



f he $bn <$> ho l$ aDe 4^ ade 1^ km * 

! u 

A Series of Sketches 



OF 



MANY OF THE NOTABLE MERCHANTS, MANUFACTURERS, CAPITALISTS, 

RAILROAD PRESIDENTS, BONANZA AND CATTLE KINGS 

OF THE COUNTRY. 



U 






BY 



.: 



j[\nina « . ]f)ollou>ai|, 

AUTHOR OF "THE LADIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE," ETC, ETC., ETC. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

BRADLEY & COMPANY, 

66 North Fourth Street, 
1884. 




THE fcf«AEY| 
OF C ONGR gM 
WASHIWQTOW 



s\ 



c< ,* 



Copyright by Laura C. Holloway, 1883. 



TO THE MEMORY &f^ 



OF PHILADELPHIA, 
PTJBIilSHEB, 

TO WHOSE SUGGESTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT THIS BOOK OWES EXISTENCE; WHOSE KINDLY 

INTEREST AND FRIENDLY REGARD THROUGH YEARS OF BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP MADE 

THE NAME OF PUBLISHER A SYNONYM OF GOODNESS AND GENEROUS 

DEALINGS ; AND WHOSE UNTIMELY DEATH HAS ASSOCIATED 

THE WORK INDELIBLY WITH HIS NAME, 

IT IS DEDICATED, WITH LOYAL AFFECTION, 



q I BY THE AUTHOR. 

L" 



(sD 



(S 1 



PREFACE. 




N the preparation of a work of the nature of this one, now offered 
to the American public, it is simple justice to the hundreds, if not 
thousands, of subjects missing from its pages to say that the aim 
of the author was to select first the notable fortunes of the country, 
and then the leading types of Americans from all branches of 
industry and trade, and then to take men who in their personal 
characters and mode of life best represented the leading national 
traits. There are numbers of fortunes in this country which are 
many times greater than some whose possessors have a place in this collection, 
and it has been a most difficult task to incorporate in the limits of one 
volume the best subjects for the purpose of variety in the particulars mentioned. 
The work of elimination has been more difficult than that of compilation, but the 
table of contents is a remarkable one, both in respect to numbers, types, aggregate 
wealth and character. It includes the leading millionaires of the country and out- 
lines the history of its wealth. The fortunes are typical not only as to their creators 
but of the different sections of country. Here are the poor New England boy, with 
his bare feet and honest heart ; the orphan lad with threadbare clothes and empty 
pockets, whose life is as barren of promise, to all appearances,- as the granite hills 
from whence he trudges to make his way in cities. The road for each and all was 
the same — through difficulties up to competence and then to fortune, and the 
lessons taught by such lives are valuable. True, they are dealt with from the 
material standpoint, but the finest characteristics are brought to light and the best 
deeds of every one are recorded. Americans honor material success, and to men 

(5) 



6 PREFACE. 

who succeed financially there is ample opportunity for political preferment or 
philanthropic distinction. The absence of misers among so large a number 
will be remarked, and the universally generous bequests named in connection 
with almost every fortune is another laudatory fact worthy of emphasis. The 
list comprises men of all nationalities, all social grades, and all mental stand- 
ards. It includes the bonanza kings, whose great wealth has given the United 
States the fame of El Dorado to the poor of other nations, and as well the Eastern 
merchant with the Western cattle-owner or the Southern railroad magnate. From 
among so many is obtained a fair average of American character. Such names as 
Peabody, Peter Cooper, Touro and Vassar are synonyms of sweetness and good- 
ness ; those of Stewart, Vanderbilt and Astor represent financial power the world 
over ; while many others, too numerous to individualize, are the best tributes to 
American commercial rectitude and integrity that could be offered. 

The story of their combined lives is the history of the United States from the 
beginning of the century; and from the days when Astor troubled himself over the 
success of his fur-trading expeditions to the triumphs of Jay Gould in Wall street 
is outlined a complete record of industry and enterprise in the United States, and 
the men at the head of affairs in this age. 

The young of the country, bent on the carving out of their own destinies, will 
find ample encouragement and inspiration from a perusal of its pages. The old 
will enjoy the reading of biographies so remarkable in many instances as to appear 
well-nigh improbable ; while people of all ranks and degrees will be interested 
in the stories of how great fortunes have been won and the uses to which they have 
been applied. There are sketches of educators and reformers, iconoclasts and 
tread-mill money-getters, and valuable lessons are to be learned from each and all 
their lives. 

The place of honor in such a book is given by right of justice as well as of 
courtesy to a woman — the most remarkable millionaire in this country. Hers was 
inherited wealth, but she earned it twice over in her efforts to reclaim it from those 
who withheld it from her, and from whom she finally wrested it after many years 
of litigation. 



PREFACE. 7 

The volume represents more good deeds, greater sums of money, better men, 
and finer representatives of manhood, than are to be found in any other work of a 
similar character before the public ; and its chief recommendation to all readers 
is its utter impartiality and fidelity to what is believed to be the truth. 

With such merits as it possesses, it is sent on its way to the homes of the people 
throughout the land to do its work of good in showing the responsibility of those 
who gather great riches and distribute them again ; and the way in which famous 
men have assumed the obligations of such stewardship and performed them. An 
impartial study of the subjects presented must result in correcting many time-worn 
and narrow impressions, and in elevating capitalists in the general esteem of the 
masses. 



PORTRAITS 



MYRA CLARK GAINES, 

GEORGE PEABODY, 

W. W. CORCORAN, ... 

W. B. ASTOR, 

JOHN W. MACKAY, 

GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS, 

PETER COOPER, 

JUDAH TOURO, 

HENRY DISSTON, 

JAMES C. FLOOD, . 

GEORGE M. PULLMAN, 

CYRUS W. FIELD, . 

THOMAS A. SCOTT, 

A. J. DREXEL, 

MATTHEW VASSAR, . 

WILLIAM C. RALSTON, . 

CHARLES STORRS, . 

CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, 

WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT, . 

FRANK LESLIE, 

EX-GOVERNOR LELAND STANFORD, 

JOHN H. STARIN, . 

JAY COOKE, .... 

SILAS C. HERRING, 

GEORGE I. SENEY, 

SAMUEL J. TILDEN, 



{Frontispiece.} 
25 
38 

. 65 
72 

. 82 

93 

. 112 

118 

. 124 
132 

. 144 
160 

. 187 
218 

• 243 
259 

. 282 
295 

• 321 
352 

• 377 
39o 

. 420 

433 

• 456 

(9) 



TO 



PORTRAITS. 



MATTHIAS W. BALDWIN, . 

ROBERT BONNER, . 

PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM, 

COLONEL JAMES C. FAIR, 

ASA PACKER, . 

AARON A. SARGENT, . 

JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR., 

JAMES GORDON BENNETT, JR., 

WILLIAM S. O'BRIEN, 

ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART 

CHARLES F. CROCKER, . 

STEPHEN GIRARD, 

BENJAMIN BRANDRETH, 

AUGUST BELMONT, 

H. B. CLAFLIN, . 

SAMUEL STOCKTON WHITE, D. D. S 

HON. WILLIAM SHARON, 

FERNANDO WOOD, 

JAY GOULD, 

john w. garrett, 
cyrus h. Mccormick, 
dr. thomas w. evans, . 



469 
484 
494 
520 

537 
560 

57o 
579 
597 
607 
626 
636 
658 
668 
682 

693 
701 

713 

725 
746 
764 
779 



CONTENTS 









PAGE. 




PAGE. 


Myra Clark Gaines, . 




• 13 


William H. Vanderbilt, . 


. 295 


George Peabody, 






■ 25 


Colonel E. L. Drake, . 


• 303 


W. W. Corcoran, 






• 38 


Henry Villard, . 


. 3" 


The Astors, 






46 


Frank Leslie, 


. 321 


John W. Mackay, 






72 


Johns Hopkins, . 


• 335 


George William Childs, 






82 


Joseph Harrison, Jr., . 


• 346 


Peter Cooper, 






• 93 


Ex-Governor Leland Stanford 


• 352 


Judah Touro, 






112 


Marshall O. Roberts, 


. 360 


Henry Disston, . 






118 


John F. Slater, . 


• 371 


James C. Flood, . 






. 124 


John H. Starin, . 


• 377 


Alexander Graham Bell, 






. 129 


John P. Jones, 


• • 383 


George M. Pullman, . 






. 132 


Jay Cooke, .... 


• 390 


Cyrus W. Field, . 






' 144 


Francis B. Thurber, . 


. 407 


Thomas A. Scott, 






. 160 


A. A. Low, .... 


. 416 


Amos Lawrence, . 






• 173 


Silas C. Herring, 


. 420 


A. J. Drexel, 






187 


John Burnside, . 


. 426 


George Law, 






191 


John A. Appleton, 


. 429 


Horace Greeley, 






197 


George I. Seney, . 


. 433 


Matthew Vassar, 






218 


Marshall Jewell, 


. 440 


William E. Dodge, 






234 


" Lucky " Baldwin, 


• 447 


William C. Ralston, . 






• 243 


Samuel J. Tilden, 


. 456 


David Jayne, 






. 251 


Paul Tulane, 


• 463 


Jesse Seligman, . 






■ 254 


Matthias W. Baldwin, 


• 469 


Charles Storrs, . 






• 259 


Nathaniel Thayer, A. M., . 


. 475 


Harper Brothers, 






. 271 


Samuel Colt, 


. 481 


Cornelius Vanderbilt, 






. 282 


Robert Bonner, . 


. 484 



(«) 



12 

Nicholas Longworth, 

Phineas Taylor Barnum, 

D. O. Mills, . 

Daniel Drew, 

Colonel James C. Fair, 

Webster Wagner, 

Moses Taylor, 

Asa Packer, 

Potter Palmer, . 

A mas a Stone, 

Aaron A. Sargent, 

Dr. Hugh Glenn, 

Mark Hopkins, . 

James Gordon Bennett, Sr 

James Gordon Bennett, Jr., 

James R. Keene, . 

Russell Sage, 

William S. O'Brien, 

John Roach, 

Ex-Lieut.-Gov. H. A. W. Tabor, 

Alexander Turney Stewart, 

George W. Riggs, 

Joseph Earle Sheffield, 

Charles F. Crocker, . 

Elias Howe, 

Theodore A. Havemeyer, 

Stephen Girard, . 

Peter McGeoch, . 



CONTENTS. 








PAGE. 
4 9 I 


PAGB. 

Ex- Governor Joseph E. Brown, . 650 


494 


Benjamin Brandreth, 


. 658 


5o7 


Robert L. Stuart, 






. 661 


512 


William Cramp & Sons, . 






. 665 


520 


August Belmont, . 






. 668 


526 


Alvin Adams, 






. 672 


532 


Hon. William G. Fargo, 






. 677 


537 


H. B. Claflin, 






. 682 


546 


John D. Rockefeller, 






. 685 


552 


Daniel J. Murphy, 






. 690 


560 


Samuel Stockton White, E 


>. D. 


s., 


• 693 


563 


John Stevens, 






. 696 


567 


Hon. William Sharon, 






. 701 


57o 


Adolph Sutro, 






. 707 


579 


Fernando Wood, . 






■ 713 


585 


Alfred S. Barnes, 






, 720 


593 


Thurlow Weed, . 






722 


597 


Jay Gould, . 






725 


599 


Charles Goodyear, . 






740 


604 


Edward Clark, . 






743 


607 


John W. Garrett, 






746 


618 


Benjamin Holladay, . 






756 


621 


David M. Colton, 






760 


626 


Cyrus H. McCormick, . 






764 


628 


John Wanamaker, 






769 


631 


"Johnny" Skae, . 






774 


636 


Dr. Thomas W. Evans, 






779 


644 


James W. Hale, . 






783 



FAMOUS AMERICAN FORTUNES. 

MYRA CLARK GAINES. 

Of all the names which this book contains, there is not one 
more deserving of honor, if energy and perseverance are qualities 
to be admired, than that of Myra Gaines. Nor is there any man 
among our collection of millionaires, who has overcome more 
difficulties, suffered more injustice, labored against and conquered 
more prejudices, toiled onward for so many years with unbroken 
spirit and undying faith in ultimate success, than this vivacious, 
untiring woman has done. For nearly half a century her life has 
been a battle against those who have attempted to keep from her 
the fortune legitimately hers, and single-handed, for much of that 
time, she has defied the power of interested officials, the technical 
snares of the law, and stands to-day practically vindicated and tri- 
umphant in every essential point for which she has contended. 

Myra Clark was born in 1805. Her father, Mr. Daniel Clark, 
was a Southerner of wealth and great family pride, and to the lat- 
ter trait Mrs. Gaines traces all her losses and vexations, and the 
necessity for an almost interminable litigation ; he had married 
privately a beautiful woman, who had been previously married, 
but who comes into our history only as the mother of Myra, the 
wife of Daniel Clark — Zulina. Mr. Clark was very much at- 
tached to his wife ; but as she did not belong to the same social 
circle as that in which he moved, he was desirous of keeping the 
marriage secret, at least for a while; and when his daughter Myra 
was born, he over-persuaded the young mother to part with her 
child, and allow her to be brought up by a friend of his own ; 

(13) 



14 MYRA CLARK GAINES. 

though the mother yielded at the time, regret came later, and dis- 
satisfaction over the loss of her child finally led to her separation 
from Mr. Clark. Myra was born on one of Mr. Clark's planta- 
tions in Louisiana, but after the separation from his wife he re- 
turned to his former home in Philadelphia, where he had large 
shipping interests. About this time he placed in the hands of 
Myra's guardian $700,000 in trust for her. 

The person to whom the infant Myra Clark and this large for- 
tune were both intrusted was Colonel Samuel B. Davis, of Dela- 
more Place, situated near Wilmington, Delaware ; this is a beauti- 
ful suburban residence, located on one of the high hills to the 
west of the city, surrounded with stately elm trees, a perfect lawn 
sloping away from the front of the house, from whence can be 
seen the city of Wilmington and the lovely scenery of the Dela- 
ware river. The mansion is built in the old Corinthian style of 
architecture, and is now occupied as a country residence by Sena- 
tor Bayard, of Delaware. Myra Clark was brought up by Colo- 
nel Davis as his own daughter, and always supposed him to be 
her father, until later events accidentally brought out the truth. 
Fortunately he did not wholly neglect her education ; he was 
wealthy and lived in magnificent style — partly on the use of 
Myra's fortune added to his own. She grew up a beautiful, 
graceful and accomplished woman, never suspecting that she was 
an exotic in that family circle ; though Colonel Davis never 
encouraged her pursuit of any kind of learning which would be 
calculated to develop independent thought. When she was about 
twenty-four years of age a suitor, favored by Colonel Davis, was 
urged upon her; all others were discouraged; but many were 
solicitous of her favor, and one of these, a young man named 
Whitney, the son of a wealthy gentleman in Philadelphia, won her 
heart and the promise of her hand. He was unobjectionable in 
every sense, of good character, capacity and standing in society; 
he was a little younger than Myra, but the difference did not 
amount to discrepancy; when, however, he applied to Colonel 



MYRA CLARK GAINES, I 5 

Davis for his sanction to the engagement with his presumed 
daughter, he was harshly, almost violently repulsed ; but Myra 
was resolute, and urged him to give his consent ; words brought 
on words, and the Colonel, getting uncontrollably angry, let the 
secret slip which he had kept locked within his own bosom for 
nearly a quarter of a century; in his excitement he exclaimed: 
" If I was your father I would lock you up for the rest of your 
life ! " The words were no sooner spoken than repented of, but 
they could not be recalled ; and, thus enlightened, Myra no longer 
felt that his consent was essential to the marriage, but he finally 
gave it, carefully avoiding, however, any mention of the $700,000 
he had received in trust for her. 

That Mr. Whitney was a man worthy of her esteem as well as 
affection, is shown by the fact that he had no sooner settled with 
his young wife in their home near New York, than he began sys- 
tematically to supplement her deficient education, by assisting her 
in a regular course of study, which, with her natural quick intelli- 
gence, was a pleasure to him and a benefit greatly appreciated by 
her. Some years of quiet happiness followed, children were 
growing up about them, when she first came to the knowledge of 
the fortune which her father had left her, and out of which, up to 
this time, she had been defrauded. This fortune, consisting 
mainly of real estate in New Orleans, had now increased in value 
to millions. Perhaps she would have been happier if she had 
never heard of it. But is it any wonder that the young people 
determined to go to New Orleans and establish her right in the 
courts ? 

It was through a Southern gentleman, who had been a friend 
of her father's and knew all the facts in the case, that Mrs. Whit- 
ney first heard the story of her parentage ; and also learned that 
before his death her father had made a second will, making her 
his sole heiress. There had been in a previous will large be- 
quests to charitable institutions. Shortly after the last will was 
made, Mr. Clark died suddenly, not without some suspicion, which 



I 6 MYRA CLARK GAINES. 

however arose later, that he had been poisoned. He had made 
his business partner, who was also a confidential friend, his execu- 
tor and administrator. Three days before Mr. Clark died, this 
partner had deposited with the clerk of the court Mr. Clark's first 
will ; but two days later, when there appeared some prospect of 
his recovery, he withdrew it, but again filed and recorded it the 
day after Mr. Clark's death. Fortunately there was one witness 
who had been watching this man. A negro, in the employment 
of Mr. Clark, testified that he had seen this partner open his mas- 
ter's desk, and take from it a sealed document, which he immedi- 
ately burned on the hearth. In the meanwhile the executor 
gained control of the vast estate left by Mr. Clark, portions of 
which he sold from time to time, the greater part of it to the city 
of New Orleans. It is probable that this treachery to his friend, 
and the robbery of his deceased friend's daughter, was not en- 
joyed in perfect peace by this false betrayer of a sacred trust ; 
for, being told that Mrs. Whitney had declared in open court that 
she expected to prove that her father had made a later will than 
that which had been filed, but which had been destroyed by an in- 
terested person, he exclaimed : " Good God, did she say that ? " 
and immediately fell dead in an apoplectic fit. 

Having decided that Mrs. Whitney's interests could be better 
prosecuted in New Orleans than if residing at a distance, the family 
left their Northern home and settled in the Crescent City. Here 
Myra found her mother, but married again, and of course, 
after a separation of thirty years, they were practically strangers 
to each other ; but learning that her mother's marriage had been 
doubted and her own legitimacy questioned — doubts probably set 
afloat by those who were profiting by their frauds — Mrs. Whitney 
determined that she would spend her life if need be to establish her 
mother's reputation and her own legitimacy. After incredible trouble 
and a prolonged series of inquiries which denoted a very keen in- 
telligence, she succeeded in discovering the record of her father's 
marriage to her mother, and also other facts of importance to her 



MYRA CLARK GAINES. 17 

suit, including the fact that two wills had been made, but while re- 
joicing over these discoveries a terrible affliction was in store for 
her ; Mr. Whitney was seized with yellow fever, and after an ill- 
ness of a few days died. For a while this great calamity over- 
powered her so that reputation and fortune were forgotten in her 
grief; but her children remained, and rallying all her fortitude for 
their sakes, she took up the burden of her life once more, and now, 
single handed, prepared to face all the legal obstructions which 
interested judicial skill could invent to prevent her restoration to 
her legal rights. Having now " only a woman " to deal with, the 
legal gentlemen opposed to her claim thought they would have 
an easy time in either frightening or buying her off. Never were 
people more mistaken, as they will now admit — if their intended 
victim has not outlived them all. The long contest had exhausted 
her means, but, nothing daunted, she borrowed money when she 
could do no better, but yielded her ground not one iota. She 
lived very economically, scarcely allowing herself the necessa- 
ries of life. All this time she was subjected to the most cruel 
calumnies, and several attempts were made to assassinate her ; 
but though they could injure and annoy her, frighten her they could 
not. She was often put to great straits. Once when in Washing- 
ton she learned that her enemies were circulating a paper deny- 
ing that she was the daughter, either legitimate or illegitimate, of 
Daniel Clark. She had no money, but still had some valuable 
jewels left; on these she raised a thousand dollars, and having paid 
some debts, she started for New Orleans, arriving there with a very 
small sum, on which to continue her complicated litigation. Still 
more discouraging, she found that a judge was to preside on the 
trial who was bitterly opposed to her ; but providentially, as it 
seemed to her, he died before the time set for the case to come 
on ; then ascertaining that a movement was on foot to place 
another person equally objectionable on the bench, she determined 
to defeat the plot if possible, though there was but little time in 
which to work. Arising very early in the morning, she went to a 



1 8 MYRA CLARK GAINES. 

printing office and had a large number of circulars printed de- 
scribing the objectionable character of the person whom it was pro- 
posed to elect to the vacant judgeship. She then employed a man 
to go on horseback through the more distant portions of the dis- 
trict, distributing these circulars, while she herself took hundreds 
of them and distributed them in the city, sometimes stopping to 
address groups of workmen, and obtaining their promise to vote as 
she desired, giving them good reasons for her request. 

One day, when she was feeling much depressed from the fact of 
her insufficient means to meet the constant claims accumulating 
against her in legal fees as well as other necessary expenses, she 
was informed that a stranger, a gentleman, wished to see her. 
Fearing that this was the prelude to some new disaster, she at first 
declined to see him, but, being urged by her favorite attendant, at 
last consented and went into the parlor, when she saw a tall, fine- 
looking military man who announced himself as General 
Gaines. With the chivalry of a mediaeval knight he explained 
to her that he had heard of her history, her trials, and her unas- 
sisted efforts to secure her rights of inheritance, and called 
simply to offer his assistance if he could be of any service to her. 
Her surprise and gratitude were equal. It was so long since she had 
struggled on alone, that the offer of a helping hand was doubly 
welcome to her. She accepted the proffered friendship with the 
simple confidence with which it was offered. As is known, this 
disinterested and noble desire to assist a persecuted woman led to 
their marriage, from which it would be difficult to tell which de- 
rived the most satisfaction and comfort ; their union seemed to be 
without a shadow until the end. It was a pleasure to the observer 
to see with what care the old soldier watched over the little, bright, 
delicate-looking, dark-haired woman lest she should " take cold" 
or " become fatigued," and she in turn watched the dyspeptic Gen- 
eral lest he should partake of anything which would aggravate his 
complaint. 

General Gaines lived only eleven years after his marriage, but 



MYRA CLARK GAINES. 1 9 

in that time he had rendered his wife great assistance, and during 
that period she had at least been sheltered from the calumnious 
attacks to which she had been previously subjected ; even profes- 
sional men, many of whom did not hesitate to circulate vile scan- 
dals about her when she most needed the courtesy of the bar, 
showed their discretion, if not any more noble attribute, by care- 
fully avoiding any disloyal utterance about the wife of General 
Gaines, knowing well that they would have had to answer to him 
had they dared to do so. The General also did her the best possi- 
ble service by encouraging her to plead her own cause in the 
courts; in fact, long before middle life she had so thoroughly 
learned the law points in all relating to her own suit that she was 
perfectly competent to plead, and, as she had a pleasing voice, an 
affluence of language, and a really impressive eloquence, she could 
and did in many cases present her own case as well as any lawyer 
could do ; and even where counsel was employed she was always 
present at every trial, and, being more familiar with all the details 
of the suit and preceding trials, was able to make timely and 
valuable suggestions to the ablest lawyers. 

Just before the war of Secession broke out Mrs. Gaines' suit 
was in such a shape that her rights were acknowledged, and it only 
required a few technical steps to have put her in possession of her 
fortune. But the war put a stop to all suits in chancery, and a 
long period of weary waiting ensued, at the end of which Mrs. 
Gaines found that new officials had come into the courts, decisions 
had been lost or destroyed, and the whole weary subject had to be 
taken up anew. This was the more discouraging because the 
city of New Orleans was now so impoverished that even if she 
re-obtained favorable judgments in the courts she could scarcely 
hope for any practical benefit. Nevertheless she took up the 
armor again and re-entered on the battle for the right with a 
tenacity and spirit unparalleled in the history of litigation in this 
country. It might be thought that in this long struggle she would 
naturally have become hardened and inclined to look only on her 



20 MYRA CLARK GAINES. 

own side of the case, but this was very far from being the case. 
On one occasion, when her counsel had made a very effective 
argument, and the judge seemed evidently inclined to her side of 
the question, the opposing counsel arose and asked to have the 
decision postponed till the next day, as he believed if he had 
twenty-four hours' time he could produce some new evidence. 
Mrs. Gaines' counsel strongly opposed the motion, but she inter- 
posed in behalf of her enemy. " You shall have three days," she 
said, "and if you have any evidence which will help you, it is your 
right to have time enough to bring it here." Turning to her 
counsel, with an emphasis which he could no.t misunderstand, she 
said, " They ask for one day — give them three." The three days 
were given, but when the case came on again no new evidence of 
any consequence was introduced, and Mrs. Gaines, obtaining per- 
mission to address the court, spoke with such clearness, force and 
eloquence for three hours that she gained every point presented. 

From the number of years that Mrs. Gaines has been before 
the courts as a litigant, some people have conceived the idea that 
she is an avaricious woman, seeking to rake together every scrap 
of property to which she can have any possible claim. That she 
has been so long- an habitue of the courts of New Orleans is not 
her fault, but her misfortune; it is not choice, but the necessity of 
vindicating her birthright, which has been denied her by the injus- 
tice of man. Her disposition is kindly in the extreme, as the 
following facts will show. There was one particular suit which 
related to a section of land on which were residing four hundred 
families inhabiting the property which they had bought of the 
city. They had procured counsel to defend their homes, which 
was quite natural, but some had gone far beyond this and en- 
deavored to do her bodily injury; yet when she had gained this 
suit, and it was within her power to evict these people, and 
though she was actually in great need of money at the time, what 
did she do? Turn them out, or sell them out? No; this is what 
she did: when the representative of a Baltimore syndicate pro- 



MYRA CLARK GAINES. 21 

posed to her to buy this property for business purposes, offering 
for it several hundred thousand dollars, she first asked what they 
would do with the property if she should sell it. "Take posses- 
sion of it, of course," was the answer. " In other words, you would 
deprive these people of their homes?" "We should be com- 
pelled to do so, Madam." " Then I decline to sell it, for I have 
made a vow to my heavenly Father that if he would sustain me in 
this great battle, which has now lasted over forty-six years, I would 
devote the remainder of my life to doing all the good I could with 
my money. He has answered my prayers, for I see complete vic- 
tory plainly before me, and, rather than violate my oath, I would give 
up everything and beg my bread from door to door." To other 
would-be purchasers for the combination she said, "Gentlemen, this 
is a large sum to offer a woman who is living on what she can borrow 
from time to time at an exorbitant rate of interest. Let me state 
the facts in the case. The people who occupy this property bought 
it in good faith from the city of New Orleans, which guaranteed 
the titles and promised to refund the money with interest if the 
titles were found to be defective. Now suppose the city should 
say to you, as it has said to me, 'We cannot come to the relief of 
these people, because the treasury has been depleted by Northern 
carpet-baggers/ what would be your course?" The answer being 
to the effect that they would be obliged to dispossess them, her 
ultimatum was announced she would not sell to any parties who 
would break up these homes, yet at this very time she was depriv- 
ing herself of every little luxury suitable to her age, living on 
fifteen cents a day — too poor to even ride in the street-cars. But 
she made no complaints, and has never attempted to draw the 
slightest revenue from this valuable property. 

Shortly after her refusal to sell she made a visit to New Orleans, 
and these four hundred families appointed a deputation to wait 
upon her and thank her for her generosity and forbearance, and 
perhaps, too, hoping to secure a continuance of them. Her reply 
was characteristic — she could forgive, but not forget, she said. 



22 MYRA CLARK GAINES. 

" You have persecuted me for more than forty years as I hope no 
other human being has ever been persecuted, or ever will be. 
Four attempts have been made upon my life, and I have suffered 
greatly in mind and heart. Yet, notwithstanding all this, mercy now 
asserts itself in my soul, and I say to you, in this hour of triumph, 
that I freely forgive you. Return to your homes, and in due time 
I will bring an appeal to the city of New Orleans to give you a 
full and free claim to your property, as they guaranteed to do." 
The city has not yet made these titles good, still alleging poverty, 
but still they feel perfectly secure, knowing well that Mrs. Gaines 
will never turn them out of their homes. 

The life and life-long litigation of Myra Clark Gaines is one of 
the most curious in juridical annals. The bare facts read like the 
chapter-headings of a sensational novel with a perfectly incredible 
plot, such as, a proud father persuades the wife, whom he has 
secretly married, to give up their child to the care of a stranger. 
After having disowned his daughter, the father puts a large for- 
tune in the hands of his friend for the benefit of this child, whom 
he never attempts to see ; this daughter grows up ignorant of her 
parentage, believes her guardian to be her father, his wife her 
mother, and his children her brothers and sisters. The guardian 
appropriates her fortune, tries to forcQ her to marry one of his 
creatures, a man utterly distasteful to her ; the young lady re- 
serves her hand for a devoted lover and marries him. The un- 
faithful guardian, in a moment of anger, allows the secret of her 
alien birth to escape him. The heroine determines to seek out 
her long unknown mother, and unravel the mystery of her parent- 
age. She travels hundreds of miles to a strange city, and by 
marvellous perseverance finds her mother, gets the true story of 
her father's marriage, and secures the official record of it. In the 
midst of this first triumph, her devoted husband is stricken down, 
and dies of yellow fever. For her children's sake she still pur- 
sues the quest of her father's will. She finds that her father died 
a millionaire and left her his sole heiress. She learns from a 



MYRA CLARK GAINES. 23 

faithful servant that there were two wills : the one less favorable 
to her was filed in the Probate Court, and the one making her the 
heiress destroyed by the treacherous executor. This wicked man 
dies suddenly, as if stricken by the hand of God, on hearing that 
she has discovered his dishonesty. Long years of struggle ensue 
in the courts to recover her inheritance. A chivalrous stranger 
appears when she is in extreme need, and proffers his aid and 
friendship. This stranger proves to be a distinguished General, 
becomes infatuated with her and marries her. She studies the 
laws of inheritance, and pleads her own cases in court ; success is 
almost within her reach, when the General dies. A civil war 
breaks out, which continues four years ; legal documents are lost, 
and the whole litigation has to be renewed. Twenty years more 
of struggle with the harpies of the law, and the defrauded child, 
now an aged woman, at last secures her legal rights, but with a 
generosity unparalleled, allows life-long opponents to retain a large 
share of her property, because she will not turn their families 
houseless on the world. There is a whole romance in these few 
lines. 

The most singular fact of all this romantic history is that Mrs. 
Gaines was able to procure in the courts the recognition of a will, 
which not only did not exist, but had been destroyed forty years 
before ! The amount of labor, anxiety, of travel, hither and 
thither, which this lady has gone through with during the fifty-one 
years since her pursuit of the truth began, is simply inconceivable, 
and even now her spirit is not exhausted ; she is bright and active, 
caring for her six grandchildren with a cheerful energy not often 
exceeded by one in middle age. Some one once asked Mrs. 
Gaines, "if she had the support of religious faith in her trials?" 
" Well, no," she said, " I do not suppose I would be called reli- 
gious, but you just ought to hear me pray when I am in a very 
tight place!" Mrs. Gaines is now seventy-eight years old. 
Since the last verdict of the Supreme Court in her favor, she has 
offered to compromise her claim against the city for $1,300,000, 



24 MYRA CLARK GAINES. 

which is but a small part of what is justly due her, but the city of 
New Orleans is very tardy in making any settlement, and before 
the money is actually paid, it is quite possible that the judgments 
which she has obtained against the city may be left as heir-looms 
for her descendants to prosecute. 

Of Mrs. Gaines' five children none are left to share in her sor- 
rows or her triumphs ; two were lost in early age ; one daughter 
died at the age of sixteen, unmarried; another daughter married 
and died, leaving a young family; her only son, who arrived at 
maturity, was shot by a brother-in-law, whether accidentally or 
not is uncertain. These successive losses have been severe trials 
to her, particularly the tragic end of her son ; but her cheerful, 
hopeful Gallic blood has enabled her to bear up with unwonted 
vigor under these accumulated misfortunes. 

Mrs. Gaines has been frequently asked, what she would do with 
her great property, when it actually came into her possession. 
Her answer has been : "As my noble husband, the General, used 
to say, ' The path of duty is ever the path of honor, safety and 
glory.' When I get possession of my estate, my path will be 
more than ever crowded with duties, and to the discharge of 
these, especially my duty to the poor people, who purchased my 
land in good faith, I will devote myself and my means." Nor 
can any one who has watched her course, or knows her person- 
ally, for a moment doubt. 

When in some future time the history of Louisiana is written, 
and this cause celebre is described by a disinterested person, both 
writer and reader will alike be astounded at the fact, that after 
the equity of a suit had been repeatedly decided in favor of a 
plaintiff, and that plaintiff a woman, that a rich city, like New 
Orleans was before the war, should endeavor to evade payment 
of the judgments obtained against it, and even yet, when the 
original judgments have been reaffirmed, that they even demur 
to accept a liberal compromise, and still plead poverty for non- 
payment. 




GEORGE PEABODY. 



GEORGE PEABODY. 

Among the merchant princes who have ennobled commerce by 
philanthropy and justified private excess of wealth by a corre- 
sponding largeness of public spirit and unselfish beneficence, the 
name of George Peabody, the American banker of London, will 
ever be conspicuous. From his cradle in Danvers, Massachusetts, 
where he was born, on the 18th of February, 1795, and which 
has since been rechristened with his name, to his grave in the spot 
chosen by himself near the scene of his earliest industry, in the 
same town, the busy interval of more than threescore years and 
ten was a continuous progress and success. He died in London 
on the 4th of November, 1869. 

Never had the two great Anglo-Saxon nations, England and 
America, so combined to honor their illustrious dead, as when the 
body of George Peabody was interred in England's grand old Ab- 
bey at Westminster until it was carried across the Atlantic to his 
native home, in the finest vessel of her Britannic Majesty's navy. 
" Monarch " was the great ship's name, and monarch was he whose 
honored remains were borne home across the sea, for money which 
makes so many slaves had by its consecrated use made him a king 
with an imperishable crown. The jewels of that crown cannot be 
stolen, for they are set in homes for the poor, schools for the young, 
libraries for workingmen and other " Safe Deposits " more secure 
than the Bank of England and the Tower of London. The gems 
of knowledge and of hope that stud this crown are shining brightly 
on the brows of growing intelligences, and as the years roll on 
they shall diffuse their brightness and increase their multitude 
more and more. It was George Peabody himself who said of one 

05) 



2 6 GEORGE PEABODY. 

of his great benefactions that in two hundred years it would amount 
to a sum sufficient to buy the City of London, the wealthiest and 
largest metropolis of the world. 

George Peabody was an Anglo-American in every sense of the 
word. His ancestors are to be found in the earliest archives of 
English history. " Boadie," which means "man," was the original 
name. " Pea," which means " mountain,"came to be its prefix when 
the first " Boadie," a British chieftain, fled to the Welsh mountains, 
after fighting for Queen Boadicea in the last battle in which she 
lost her crown and life. This was in a. d. 6i. There was a Pea- 
body among King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. The 
family are found in Leicestershire and subsequently in Hertford- 
shire, and it was from St. Alban's, in the latter county, that 
Francis Pabody, as he spelt the name, went in 1635 to be one of the 
first settlers in New England. He made his home at Topsfield 
in 1667, an d became the first man of the place. His wife was a 
daughter of Reginald Foster, who is honorably mentioned by Sir 
Walter Scott in " Marmion " and " The Lay of the Last Minstrel." 
Six sons and eight daughters were born to him, and of these sons 
three settled in Bixford and two remained in Topsfield. From 
these five patriarchs came all the Peabodys of America. George 
Peabody was the great-great-great-grandson of Francis Peabody, 
the first pilgrim settler. 

So much for pedigree, which is a pleasant heirloom when pre- 
served in virtue. By his own character and life each human being 
stands or falls, and the distant rays from high heroic forefathers, 
while they can reveal the misdeeds of their descendants in 
strongest colors by comparison, can add nothing to the intrinsic 
qualities of individual life. Happy, however, is the man who can 
feel in looking back upon his own career that he has enhanced the 
prestige of an honored name, and been faithful to the sacramental 
bond of noble lineage. It is a right and a heroic feeling which Lord 
Holland expressed upon his death-bed when he wrote with a pencil 
the lines : 



GEORGE PEABODY. 2>] 

" Nephew of Fox and friend of Gvey 
Enough my meed of fame, 
If those who knew me best can say 
I tarnished neither name." 

Certainly the ancestors of George Peabody had every reason to 
be proud of him if they could have been witnesses of his noble 
life. 

The district school of his native village of Danvers grave him, as 
a child, the rudiments of education — just " the three R's," probably 
— with some information about the Revolution and its heroes. 

At eleven years of age he began to earn his own living, as a 
grocer's boy, and so continued for four years. At sixteen he went to 
Newburyport as assistant to his elder brother, David Peabody, in a 
dry-goods store. " The first money," it is said, " that Mr. Pea- 
body earned outside of the small pittance he received as clerk, was 
for writing ballots for the Federal party in Newburyport. This 
was before the day of printed votes. A fire destroyed the store, 
and in after-life Mr. Peabody used to tell that he was the first to 
give the alarm, as he was putting up the shutters at the time it 
broke out." 

Forty-six years intervened between George Peabody's leaving 
Newburyport in 1811, and his returning to it in 1857, on the occa- 
sion of an agricultural fair. Most of his early associates were in 
their graves, but he recognized three or four now prominent busi- 
ness men who had been his contemporaries as clerks. Chief among 
them was Prescott Spaulding, and Mr. Peabody left the Mayor's 
side in the procession to shake his early friend by the hand. Mr. 
Spaulding was fourteen years his senior, and had been the uncon- 
scious author of his immense fortune. It is always interesting to 
learn how great fortunes were made, and especially how they be- 
gan. As John Jacob Astor used to say, " I found great difficulty in 
making the first dollar, but no trouble afterward." Nothing is so 
successful as success, as the saying is, and the momentous question 
in regard to every remarkably successful man is, "How did he be- 
gin ? What was his starting-point ? " Archimedes, the Greek 



28 GEORGE PEABODY. 

natural philosopher and inventor, who anticipated and dimly con- 
ceived many modern inventions in mechanics, said, " Give me only 
a point to stand on and I will shake the earth." What was George 
Peabody's standing-point from which he sent forth the power that 
attracted material wealth ? 

Mr. Spaulding unconsciously set the ball rolling which was to 
make the fields of gold as it went on, by giving young Peabody, 
when he left Newburyport, a youth of sixteen, a letter of credit to 
Mr. James Reed, of Boston, who was so favorably impressed by 
his manners and the character given of him, that he let him have 
two thousand dollars' worth of goods, and subsequently gave him 
credit for a much larger amount. This was Archimedes' " standing- 
point " to George Peabody, and at a public entertainment in Bos- 
ton, when he had become one of the richest bankers of the world, 
he laid his hand upon Mr. Reed's shoulder, and said, " My friends, 
here is my first patron ; here is the man who sold me my first bill 
of goods." Newburyport, therefore, launched him on the tide of, 
fortune when he bade it farewell, and when he settled in George- 
town, D. C., the first consignment of goods made to him was by 
Francis Todd, of Newburyport. That he never forgot these be- 
ginnings the Public Library of Newburyport bears witness. Mr. 
Peabody was for two years in business in Georgetown, where his 
uncle, John Peabody, invited him to join him in the dry-goods busi- 
ness. While there the war of 1 812 broke out, and the British fleet 
on the Potomac was threatening Washington. He joined a vol- 
unteer company of artillery and did duty at Fort Warburton, which 
commanded the river approach to the capital. For this service it 
was stated in Appletoris Journal that Mr. Peabody received one 
of the Government grants of one hundred acres of land, bestowed 
by act of Congress on those who had served in the war of 181 2. 

We next find Mr. Peabody, when only nineteen, becoming a 
partner with Mr. Elisha Riggs, of Georgetown, who removed his 
business to Baltimore in 181 5, and seven years later opened 
branches in Philadelphia and New York. In 1830 Mr. Riggs re- 



GEORGE PEABODY. 29 

tired, and Mr. Peabody became senior partner of the firm of 
Riggs & Peabody, now changed to Peabody, Riggs & Co. The 
" Illustrated London News," in a sketch appended to a portrait 
of George Peabody, thus describes the beginning of Mr. Peabody's 
connection with this firm : " The short war being over, his proved 
skill and diligence in trade brought him the offer of a partnership 
in a new concern. It was that of Mr. Elisha Riggs, who was 
about to commence the sale of ' dry goods ' — all sorts of clothing 
stuffs as distinguished from 'groceries' — throughout the Middle 
States of the Union. Peabody acted as bagman, and often travelled 
alone on horseback through the western wilds of New York and 
Pennsylvania, or the plantations of Maryland and Virginia, if not 
farther, lodging with farmers or gentlemen slave-owners, and so 
becoming acquainted with every class of people and every way of 
living." 

In 1837, during the financial crisis which came upon every State 
in the Union, making bankrupts of three-fourths of the first 
American merchants, as well as of those English ones whose busi- 
ness lay chiefly in American securities, Mr. Peabody saved the 
credit of the State of Maryland. Replying to Governor Swann, 
of that State, on the ist of November, 1866, when he was publicly 
welcomed by the trustees of the Peabody Institute, which was en- 
tirely his creation, Mr. Peabody said : " It is now upward of half a 
century since I came from Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, 
where I had for some time been in business, to reside in this city. 
I was then but twenty years of age, and commenced business here 
in company with Mr. Elisha Riggs, of Georgetown, at 215^ 
Market street, then called ' Old Congress Hall,' and there it was 
that I gained the first five thousand dollars of the fortune with 
which Providence has crowned my exertions. From that period, 
for twenty years of my life, though a New England man, and 
though strong prejudices existed, even at that time, between 
the Northern and the Southern States, I never experienced from 
the citizens of Baltimore anything but kindness, hospitality and 



1/ 



2,0 GEORGE PEABODY. 

confidence. It would be strange, indeed, if I were not deeply at- 
tached to Baltimore, where I entered upon a business career which 
has been so prosperous. And although I have lived abroad for 
more than thirty years, under the government of a queen who is 
beloved, not only within her own realm, but throughout all civilized 
countries, and who has bestowed upon me very high honor, yet my 
appreciation, warm though it is, of kindness and honor bestowed 
upon me in England has never effaced the grateful remembrance 
and warm interest which I must ever connect with the home of my 
early business and the scene of my youthful exertions." In those 
thirty years he had visited his native land but once before. His 
last visit was in the summer of 1869, the year of his death. 

For twenty years Mr. Peabody remained at Baltimore, steadily 
building up an enormous business as an importer of manufactured 
goods from Europe, to which he added a private banking business. 

He had frequently paid business visits to England, and had be- 
come thoroughly known to the leading houses of London as a man 
of inflexible integrity, whose word was as good as his bond, and 
whose steady energy and sound commercial judgment insured suc- 
cess to his undertakings. In 1836 he resolved to extend his busi- 
ness by opening a London house under his own personal manage- 
ment. From February, 1837, he made London his home, and 
became so acclimatized to its atmosphere and habits that, on his 
last visit to America above referred to, when he sought the White 
Sulphur Springs of Virginia for his health, he said to those who 
urged him to spend the remainder of his days in America, "You 
will think me somewhat of a cockney when I say that I believe in 
London air and London living. It is my intention to revisit 
America, but I shall return to England." 

He returned to England ; but only after his death (at his friend 
Sir Curtis Lampson's house a few months later) did he revisit 
America, there to rest forever in his native soil. The large fortune 
which Mr. Peabody had already amassed, and the immense busi- 
ness he controlled at the time he settled in London, made his subse- 



GEORGE PEABODY. 3 1 

quent career an easy one. The fame of having saved the credit 
of the State of Maryland preceded him, and soon he became the 
leading representative of American capital, as well as of American 
commercial integrity, in Great Britain and Europe. The signifi- 
cance of his great act for Maryland must be estimated by the 
financial crisis and panic of the year 1837. His friend, Edward 
Everett, referred to both, some years afterwards, in the following 
terms : " That great sympathetic nerve of the commercial world, 
credit, as far as the United States was concerned, was for the time 
paralyzed. At that moment Mr. Peabody not only stood firm himself, 
but was the cause of firmness in others. There were not at that 
time, probably, half a dozen other men in Europe who, upon the 
subject of American securities, would have been listened to for a 
moment in the parlor of the Bank of England. But his judgment 
commanded respect ; his integrity won back the reliance which 
men had been accustomed to place in American securities. The 
reproach in which they were all involved was gradually wiped 
away from those of a substantial character; and if, on this solid 
basis of unsuspected good faith, he reared his own prosperity, let 
it be remembered that at the same time he retrieved the credit of 
the State of Maryland, of which he was agent, performing the 
miracle by which the word of an honest man turns paper into 
gold." He continued to export from England to the United States 
immense shipments of British manufactures, receiving by the same 
vessels consignments of all kinds of American produce. 

But, as we have said, he had for a long time combined a private 
banking business with that of merchandise. The name he had now 
achieved in the commercial world attracted to his house of busi- 
ness all the manufacturers and merchants whose goods were con- 
signed to or exported by him. They were glad to leave their 
money in his keeping, and to get advances from him on their 
freights when they needed ready money. In this way, like a stone 
thrown into a pond, a widening circle of influence and credit was 
created. His business now grew of itself by an inevitable pro- 



32 GEORGE PEABODY. 

cess. He became a great banker, and latterly it is in this capacity 
that he was best known to all the merchants' exchanges of the 
world. The firm of George Peabody & Company ranked with 
the Rothschilds and the Barings. The managing partner of the 
latter house in London was also an American, Joshua Bates, born 
at Weymouth, near Boston. Mr. Bates resembled Mr. Peabody 
in kindly remembrance of his early associations. He gave $20,- 
000 to found the Free Library of Boston. It was Mr. Peabody's 
special pride to make his establishment thoroughly American in a 
cosmopolitan rather than a narrow and provincial sense. He said 
himself: "I have endeavored, in the constitution of its members 
and the character of its business, to make it an American house 
and to give it an American atmosphere, to furnish it with Ameri- 
can journals, to make it a centre of American news, and an 
agreeable place for my American friends visiting London." He 
took the principal part in arranging the display of American 
manufactures at the first Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London, 
in 1 85 1. The banquet given by him at the London Coffee-House, 
on the 27th of October in that year, marked a new era of inter- 
national confidence and good-will, especially between England and 
America. In the following year, 1852, learning that his native 
village of Dan vers had been greatly injured by fire, he helped to 
rebuild it, and, on a public festival, a letter from him was opened 
containing ^4,000, with the motto, for a toast, " Education, a debt 
due from the present to future generations." The money was for 
" the promotion of knowledge and morality in Danvers." 

In 1856 he revisited his birthplace, and thus addressed his fel- 
low-townsmen : " Though Providence has granted me an unvaried 
and unusual success in the pursuit of fortune in other lands, I am 
still in heart the humble boy who left yonder unpretending dwell- 
ing. There is not a youth within the sound of my voice, whose 
early opportunities and advantages are not very much greater 
than were my own, and I have since achieved nothing that is im- 
possible to the most humble boy among you." 



GEORGE PEABODY. $$ 

Others beside Mr. Peabody have amassed colossal fortunes, but 
we can recall none who can compare with him in the use he made 
of it. Some neglect their own kindred, but he who had no wife 
or child, provided munificently for all his near kindred. The fol- 
lowing is a list of public benefactions made during his lifetime : 

To the State of Maryland for negotiating its eight million loan $ 60,000 

To the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, including accrued interests . 1,500,000 

To the Southern Education Fund 3,000,000 

To the Yale College 150,000 

To the Harvard College 150,000 

To the Peabody Academy, Massachusetts 140,000 

To the Phillips Academy, Massachusetts 25,000 

To the Peabody Institute, etc., at Peabody (Danvers), Mass 250,000 

To the Kenyon College, Ohio 25,000 

To the Memorial Church in Georgetown, Mass 100,000 

To the Home for the Poor in London 3,000,000 

To the Libraries in Georgetown, Mass., and Thesford, Vt 10,000 

To the Kane's Arctic Expedition 10,000 

To the Sanitary Fairs in various places 10,000 

To unpaid moneys advanced to uphold the credit of States 40,000 

Total #8,470,000 

At Mr. Peabody's death he was worth about four millions of 
dollars, and this amount he bequeathed to his brother, sister, 
nephews and nieces, among whom, on his last visit to America, he 
had already divided one million five hundred thousand dollars. 

Such, then, was the great fortune of George Peabody, the 
means by which he made it and the uses to which he put it. He 
was a citizen of two countries, and a benefactor of two hemis- 
pheres. He had opportunities of making money, that can rarely 
occur to any man in any age or country ; but even these oppor- 
tunities would have been insufficient, had it not been for those 
qualities of mind and character which enabled him to utilize them. 
One error of judgment, one false step, one defalcation from the in- 
flexible rules of high commercial honor, and George Peabody 
might have been only an ordinary trader with " ups and downs," 
profits and losses, successes and failures. But his directness of 
purpose and principle made him master of every financial situa- 
3 



34 GEORGE PEABODY. 

tion. He controlled the doctrine of chance instead of being its 
slave. If Martin Luther has been called " the solitary monk that 
shook the world," George Peabody may be called the s6litary 
merchant who gave firmness to the world, in the midst of financial 
crises and political revolutions. 

Perhaps the hero who is to benefit his fellow-men on a gigantic 
scale, whether he be philosopher, poet, inventor or philanthropist, 
must in some degree stand alone in an unselfish solitude. Great 
planners and performers move in an orbit of their own. The 
banker, whose word could guide the governors of the Bank of 
England, had himself to be resolute, prudent, not to be shaken 
from a well-considered purpose by the fickle winds of rumor and 
indirection. 

Perhaps such men succeed better in amassing and controlling 
money, when they have neither wife nor child to divert their 
attention and engross their affections. Some of the greatest men 
this world has ever seen have been wifeless and childless. Still, 
one can scarcely help a feeling of disappointment that no good 
woman shared his fortunes, was the sympathetic confidant of his 
thoughts, and made a domestic hearth for him, where he might of 
evenings have shut out the busy hum of the world's marketings. 
But George Peabody never married ; his kindly and gentle heart 
knew perhaps its own bitterness and allowed no woman to inter- 
meddle with its joy. 

Yet there are several stories of his having loved and suffered 
disappointment. He who spoke so openly, and with so much 
candid gratification, of his business struggles and successes, his 
parents and early friends, and who built a church in memory of 
his mother, never revealed the secret of a love affair, if he had 
any to reveal. 

One rumor said that he had adopted a penniless little girl, and 
that, when she was ripening into a maiden fair, pleasant to see 
and to care for, he offered her his hand and heart, only to learn 
that she was already betrothed privately to one of his clerks. Of 



GEORGE PEABODY. 3J 

course the writers of this story, as well as poetical justice, were 
bound to add that he magnanimously provided for both and said, 
" Bless ye, my children." This rumor seems to have had no 
foundation but the air. Another story runs, that he proposed and 
was accepted for the sake of his money by a worldly-minded 
beauty, who concealed a previous engagement, which when Mr. 
Peabody discovered, he rebuked her insincerity and gave her up. 
The third, and by far the most likely story, is the " old, old story " 
of his loving one who loved another, and who told him so, and 
that he wrapped himself in his cloak of solitude and singleness 
from that hour to his death. The life of a bachelor in London, 
especially to men who seek diversion from such a heartache, is, 
when one gets used to it, the pleasantest in the world. One need 
not be a cynic nor an old beau like Major Pendennis to enjoy it. 
Such bachelors as Macaulay, as Henry Crabb Robinson are wel- 
come everywhere, and see and hear all that is worthy of the 
senses. The charms of conversation are always open to them in 
wider and more varied circles than those which family-men are 
apt to find; and theatres, concerts, clubs, short tours with bache- 
lor companions, added to the best treasures of literature and art, 
make up a mode and habit of existence which seem enviable to 
those who cannot attain to them. George Peabody would have 
made a noble husband and father, as he was a noble son and 
brother, but he willed it otherwise, and lived alone contentedly, 
perhaps remembering the truism of Pascal—" Je mourrai seul," I 
shall die alone. 

More remarkable, however, than his choice of a single over a 
married life, is the almost Spartan simplicity of his habits, con- 
sidering the vast means at his command for the gratification of 
every taste. He gave banquets worthy of a king, and his tables 
on such occasions were laden with the choicest morceaux of all 
lands in culinary art, but he himself loved best his slice of mutton 
and glass of claret ; cigars, even of the most fragrant and delicious 
brands, had no attraction for him., which is stranger in an Ameri- 



2,6 GEORGE PEABODY. 

can than it would have seemed in an Englishman. Smoking" in 
this country is " the last infirmity of noble minds," so general is 
its custom ; but it does not appear that George Peabody ever 
smoked. Another peculiarity in which he resembled the late 
A. T. Stewart, of New York, was his aversion to personal orna- 
ments. His watch was never attached to a gold chain, but to a 
silk ribbon. He never wore any studs except pearl or ivory in 
his shirt-front or cuffs, and no diamond ever shed its meretricious 
rays upon his bosom ; he was in food, and sleep, and dress always 
the plain, simple, unpretending gentleman. It is the Tittlebat 
Titmouses who come into millions that do not belong to them 
and which they do not know what to do with, who corruscate in 
diamonds and command venal servility by vanity and show. Mr. 
Peabody, in contrast to so many of these morceattx riches, would 
not keep a personal attendant, or body servant, as the term used 
to be in England, until his health made one absolutely necessary. 
On the same unostentatious principle and simplicity of wants, he 
would never keep house, but was content with apartments for 
himself. It is said that for the last few years of his life his per- 
sonal expenses did not exceed three thousand dollars a year. In 
plain living as in noble doing he set an example to all classes and 
all ranks of fortune. In olden times each city in Christendom 
was believed to have a patron saint, whose tutelary or guardian 
spirit hovered over it for its protection and prosperity. 

Apart from such a poetic and pretty superstition, we may close 
this sketch of George Peabody, the great American London 
Banker and Philanthropist, by reflecting that of many cities on 
both sides of the vast Atlantic, he is still, as it were, a guardian 
angel, a tutelary saint. At this moment, reader, in whatever city 
thou art, the fact is undeniable that thou art a debtor to the 
memory of George Peabody, and that by his life and deeds he 
was a benefactor to thee and all of us. How many busy feet are 
now climbing the stairs of libraries he founded ; how many busy 
hands are now holding the books and instruments he gave to 



GEORGE PEABODY. 7>7 

museums, libraries and colleges ; how many eager hearts, just 
entering upon business life, is his examplar spirit pointing to the 
right way. When the evening star looks down on his native vil- 
lage, now the town that bears his name ; or in Georgetown, 
Massachusetts, where the church, in memory of his mother, points 
to high and heavenly things ; or in Baltimore, where his wealth 
began ; or the great world of London, where winds the silver 
Thames amid the commerce of the globe, and where his thousands 
turned to millions, it sees innumerable human beings, men, women 
and children, who rise up to toil and lie down to rest under the 
shelter of George Peabody, and with the light of his beneficence 
about their way. 



W. W. CORCORAN. 

Mr. Corcoran, the aged banker of Washington, has a national 
reputation in two respects : one for his great wealth, and again for 
the wise, elevating and benevolent use which he has made of it. 
There is no permanent resident of the capital who has done more 
for its intellectual interests than he; or who has done as much to 
develop a taste for historical research and for the fine arts. The 
father of William Wilson Corcoran, whose name was Thomas, 
came to this country in i 783, settling at first in Baltimore, after- 
wards removing to Georgetown, preferring this place for what 
would appear now to be a curious reason, " because there was 
such a large quantity of shipping there ; " this, it must be remem- 
bered, was in 1787, two years before the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion ; and at that time there was no idea of locating the capital of 
the nation on the banks of the Potomac. Thomas Corcoran was 
only twenty-three years of age at this time, but was already a 
widower ; he opened a store and soon won the confidence of the 
people of Georgetown, and in the course of a few years married a 
lady of that city. He rose rapidly in public esteem, and prospered 
greatly in his business, became a Director of the Bank of Colum- 
bia, and was elected a mayor of the city ; and was also a member 
of the Board of Trustees of Columbia College. 

Thomas Corcoran's son, William Wilson, was born on the 27th 
of December, 1798. He received a good education, and then, at 
the age of nineteen, went into the dry-goods business, at the cor- 
ner of First and High streets. In a few years his business so ex- 
panded that he built a large warehouse on the corner of Congress 
and Bridge streets, taking into partnership his younger brother, 
Thomas ; the firm commencing as auction and commission mer- 
(38) 




W. W CORCORAN. 



W. W. CORCORAN. 3$ 

chants, which they continued until 1823; at this time trade was 
very much depressed, and, in company with a great many others, 
the young partners failed ; they were able to make very favorable 
terms with their creditors, who appreciated the uprightness of 
their course, and knew that it was through no fault of theirs that 
they had been compelled to suspend ; and we may as well mention 
here the fact that after Mr. W. W. Corcoran had amassed wealth, 
as he had so long ago as 1843, that he looked up all his George* 
town creditors and paid those old debts to the uttermost farthing, 
not only the principal but the accumulated interest which had been 
running on for twenty years, and which far exceeded in amount 
the original indebtedness, a rare instance, indeed, of conscientious 
honesty, long after all legal claims had ceased. 

For eight years, between 1828 to 1836, Mr. Corcoran had 
charge of the real estate of the Bank of Columbia, which, of course, 
was a source of great profit. Being now in a very prosperous 
way he, in 1835, married Miss Louisa Morris, daughter of Com- 
modore Morris, of the United States navy. Mrs. Corcoran was a 
lady of exceptional beauty, culture and refinement, and it is said 
that at first the aristocratic old commodore was decidedly opposed 
to the match, little anticipating the extraordinary financial and 
social eminence which his son-in-law was destined to reach. Soon 
after his marriage Mr. Corcoran left Georgetown and settled in 
Washington; and in 1841 he became the financial agent of the 
State Department in its foreign transactions. About this time he 
made the acquaintance of the great New England statesman, Dan- 
iel Webster, and this friendship continued unbroken and unclouded 
until the death of the latter. In 1842 Mr. Corcoran formed a part- 
nership with the successful banker, Mr. Riggs. At this period the 
credit of the United States had been much injured abroad by the 
repudiation of Mississippi and some other States ; many European 
financiers apparently not being able to distinguish between a State 
and a national debt, were unwilling to accept United States gov- 
ernment bonds. In this emergency Corcoran and Riggs came to 



4-0 W. W. CORCORAN. 

the rescue, and took up the proffered loan ; which action at once 
established the reputation of the firm, as well as proving a very 
profitable transaction for themselves. Another loan of the gov- 
ernment, which was issued to raise money for the conduct of the 
war in Mexico, was taken by this firm. In 1848 Mr. Corcoran 
went to London, hoping to place a large amount of government 
securities ; and there had the pleasure of meeting his old friend, 
George Peabody ; these had been boys together in Georgetown, 
but it was many years since they had met, and this interview in 
another hemisphere was doubly interesting ; here, too, he renewed 
his acquaintance with the Barings, and these friends combined to 
make his expedition a success. On returning to the United States, 
Mr. Corcoran landed at New York, and here he was welcomed 
with an enthusiastic ovation by the bankers and capitalists of the 
metropolis, who, at a banquet given in his honor, hailed him as 
" the fortress of American credit in Europe." 

Mr. Corcoran's wealth was now largely increasing, and he 
began to look about for suitable investments ; and large purchases 
were made by him of real estate, both in Washington and New 
York. He also sought for worthy charities to which a portion of 
his wealth might be freely devoted. One of the first objects of his 
generous thoughts was the proper care of the last resting-place 
of the dead; and Oak Hill Cemetery, on the heights at George- 
town, with its beautiful arrangements and decorations attest 
to his taste, as well as his munificence; these grounds being 
laid out irrespective of expense in the most picturesque and at- 
tractive style suitable to such a place. To the Washington 
Orphan Asylum he presented the valuable lots on which that 
building is erected, and the grounds which surround it. Mr. Cor- 
coran also endowed Columbia College, at Georgetown, with a 
large estate ; and has also made liberal donations to William and 
Mary College ; to the Virginia Military Institute, and to the Uni- 
versities of Washington and Lee. 

In addition to all the above-named gifts and an unending series 



W. W. CORCORAN. 4 1 

of private charities, his greatest gift of all to the city of Wash- 
ington — we might truly say to the nation — is the magnificent Art 
Gallery which stands on the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and 
Seventeenth street. This splendid building is in the renaissance 
style, of brick and New Jersey sandstone ; it is one hundred feet 
front on the avenue by one hundred and fifteen feet on Seven- 
teenth street. The facade is rich in ornamentation, with niches for 
portrait statues of renowned artists ; it is two stories high above 
the basement, with a lofty mansard roof, in which is set the sky- 
light through which the gallery is lighted. This gallery is thirty- 
five feet high from floor to skylight ; the main room being ninety- 
five feet in length by forty-five in width, with two lesser rooms, 
forty-five by nineteen feet ; and in an octagon-shaped room, built 
specially for it, over the main entrance, stands the beautiful marble 
statue of Power's Greek slave. To the left of the trustees' room 
is the library, chiefly devoted to works on art and collateral sub- 
jects ; it has a shelving capacity of thirty-five thousand volumes ; 
beyond this is the hall of sculptures. 

Ground was broken for this building in 1857. When it was 
completed and a number of works of art, transferred from Mr. 
Corcoran's own private gallery and from other sources, placed on 
the walls, this noble donor added an endowment fund of $50,000. 
It is as well to note here that it is the public, and not the giver, 
which has attached the name " Corcoran Gallery " to this build- 
ing ; he had the facade inscribed with these words only, " Devoted 
to Art." 

But none of the objects we have enumerated are so dear to the 
heart of Mr. Corcoran as the "Louisa Home," dedicated to the 
memory of his deceased daughter. Mr. Corcoran's wife, Louisa 
.Morris, died in 1840, at the early age of twenty-one, a few years 
after her marriage ; she left a son and daughter ; the boy died 
young, but the daughter, Louisa, who greatly resembled her mother, 
lived to mature age ; she married the Hon. George Eustis, at one 
time member of Congress from Louisiana. She died at about the 



42 W. W. CORCORAN. 

age of thirty, leaving three children, who have been brought up 
by their grandfather. Miss Louisa Corcoran, or Mrs. Eustis, was 
a beautiful and accomplished woman, and well known in Washing- 
ton as a graceful and fearless rider ; on her Mr. Corcoran seemed 
to have centred all the strongest affections of his nature, and to her 
this " Louisa Home " is dedicated. This is a stately structure, 
standing on Massachusetts avenue near Fifteenth street, and was 
built in 1870; it is an asylum for ladies who have been reduced 
from affluence to poverty, through misfortune or the loss of their 
natural protectors: the widows of naval or military officers, or aged 
persons belonging to families in private life no longer able to sup- 
port them. Here every provision is made for the comfort of the 
inmates, Mr. Corcoran's forethought having even provided a 
covered promenade, where exercise may be taken in inclement 
weather. Near the principal entrance there are finely executed 
portraits of the two Louisas, Mr. Corcoran's lost wife and daughter. 
On New Year's day, when Mr. Corcoran starts out to make his 
round of calls, his first visit is always made to the ladies at the 
"Louisa Home." In 1849 Mr. Corcoran erected a large, substan- 
tial edifice for the then newly organized Department of the In- 
terior ; this building is now occupied by the paymaster-general of 
the army. In 1870 he built the Washington Hotel on Vermont 
avenue, which almost directly took its place as the most fashion- 
able in the city. In fact, it is difficult to walk through the streets 
of Washington in any direction without coming in contact with 
some piece of property or some building either owned or having 
been given away by W. W. Corcoran. 

To the historical student the name of the Washington banker 
has become a household word. Not only did Mr. Corcoran give 
the money to establish the Historical Society in the District of 
Columbia, but he has presented to tlfe Virginia Historical Society 
one of the most interesting and valuable gifts, known to students 
as the " Dinwiddie Papers," which have been lying perdu in Lon- 
don for a hundred and thirty years. These papers had long been 



W. W. CORCORAN. 43 

in the possession of the well-known bibliopole, Henry Stevens, 
and consist of the original manuscript records of the Colony of 
Virginia during- the administration of Lieutenant-Governor Robert 
Dinwiddie — that is, from 1752 to 1757. The importance of these 
papers may be estimated partially when we state that they con- 
sist of nine hundred and fifty documents and letters, on six hun- 
dred and thirty closely written folio pages, and will fill when printed 
three large octavo volumes. Among the interesting contents are 
over sixty letters from Governor Dinwiddie to George Washing- 
ton, then a young man of twenty-three, and eighteen letters of 
the youthful Washington to Dinwiddie; these are among the earliest 
authentic letters known to be extant of George Washington's — 
these being written between March, 1754, and May, 1756. Then 
there are official addresses, messages, speeches, charges to the 
House of Burgesses and to the grand jury; letters to officers in 
the civil and military service ; letters to governors of other Col- 
onies and to various other persons in different classes of life both 
in America and England, all illustrative of the condition of Vir- 
ginia at that time, throwing light upon persons and events of 
singular interest to the student of colonial times in Virginia. 
As Washington's private papers fell into the hands of the French 
at the time of Braddock's defeat, these " Dinwiddie Papers " 
are the only documents that can fill the hiatus caused by their 
loss. For these papers Mr. Corcoran paid several thousand 
dollars. 

When Kossuth was in this country Mr. Corcoran became very 
much interested in Hungary and the Hungarians, and gave the 
necessary funds to transfer one hundred of Kossuth's compatriots 
from New York city to homes in the far West. In religious faith 
Mr. Corcoran is an Episcopalian, and has been for years a liberal 
donor to the Church of the Ascension in Washington. He was 
for many years recognized as the most magnificent entertainer in 
Washington ; his dinners were the most brilliant of the many 
splendid entertainments which each season witnesses in the capital, 



44 w - W- CORCORAN. 

and " the long- file of stately senators " leading to the table the 
creme de la creme of Washington beauty was a sight long to be 
remembered even in that city of fashion and social display. 

One of the latest exhibitions of Mr. Corcoran's poetic senti- 
ment, which eighty-five years have not been able to extinguish or 
to enfeeble, was his sending out an expedition to Algiers for the 
remains of John Howard Payne, the author of "Home, Sweet 
Home." To this venerable patriarch it appeared unseemly for 
the bones of this man whose simple poem had stirred with home- 
sick longing the hearts of thousands in foreign lands — words which 
had been composed when an exile from home, and which are 
known and sung wherever the English tongue is spoken — that he 
of all men should be denied a final resting-place in the land of his 
birth ; and acting on this generous thought, which shows at least 
that his heart has not grown old, he caused them to be restored 
to their native soil. 

Mr. Corcoran suffers, as do all the wealthy free-givers, from 
the number and persistency of beggars of all descriptions and of 
every class ; from those who hold out their hats for a dime to the 
impecunious men and women whose thriftless habits have left them 
stranded on the shores of indigence in middle life. To the impor- 
tunities of this miscellaneous multitude no man's fortune is equal, 
and even Mr. Corcoran has to keep a sort of body-guard to pro- 
tect him in his home and during his walks from their fluent verbal 
assaults. The retired banker is spending his days of repose from 
business in a magnificent house just across the Park near the 
White House ; fortunately, though childless, his home is cheered 
and enlivened by the presence of his three grandchildren, and 
these may often be seen on the avenues of the city taking eques- 
trian exercise, of which Mr. Corcoran highly approves and en- 
couraged in his own daughter. Mr. Corcoran's one long holiday 
occurred in 1863-64, when he and George Peabody went to Italy 
together ; being both lovers of art, they spent much time in Rome 
and Florence — wintering in Naples ; these friends were very much 



W. W. CORCORAN. 45 

attached to each other, and had many points in common, especially 
in. their liberality, for which they will long be remembered by those 
who knew them both as two earnest, enterprising youths in 
Georgetown. In later years Mr. Peabody once remarked, after 
hearing of some large gift of Mr. Corcoran's, "Ah ! I can't keep 
up with him!' The youngest son of Mrs. Eustis was named for 
her father's old friend, " George Peabody." 

Mr. Corcoran has remained a widower since 1840. He is de- 
scribed as slightly above the average height, of regular features ; 
his ample gray hair and moustache cut and trimmed with care, 
but suitable to his age. He has given away between three and 
four millions of dollars, and has many more millions left. 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

Hans Jakob or John Jacob Astor was born in the obscure ham- 
let of Waldorf, Germany, in 1763. In the various sketches of his 
life which have been published nearly every writer gives a differ- 
ent account of the occupation of his father and the status of the 
family; some even speaking of him as a "justice," when it is 
quite certain that there was no such official in the place. He was 
according to these biographers a "farmer," a "baker," a "butcher," 
" rustic," etc., etc. From the most authentic evidence extant there 
remains no doubt that the father of John Jacob Astor pursued the 
very useful occupation of a butcher, which one of his sons, Henry, 
also followed in the city of New York, leasing a stall in the old 
hay market ; the eldest son of the family early settled in London, 
as a manufacturer of musical instruments, and was at one time in 
partnership with Broadwood, a name inseparably connected with 
the piano-fortes of a century ago. Perhaps to escape military 
service, to which was added a dislike to his father's business, and 
quite certainly with the hope and expectation of rising in the 
world as he could never do in Waldorf, the fourth and youngest 
son of the family determined to follow the example of his elder 
brothers, and seek his fortune abroad. But how should he pro- 
cure the money for the journey? The idea of paying for carriage 
conveyance could never have entered his mind ; the " post- 
kutsche " did not pass through Waldorf, and to reach that he 
must first get to Manheim, a city at the confluence of the. Rhine 
and Neckar ; but even the charges for the post-coach were too 
much for his slender savings. His parents desired to keep their 
youngest son at home, but by doing odd jobs and by the friendly 
gifts of some of his relations he had acquired a small sum ; little 
(46) 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 47 

more than sufficient to pay for the sea-voyage which he must 
make to reach London, whither he had determined to go in the 
first instance, though his ultimate destination was to reach America. 
Hans Jakob was sixteen years of age when he finally determined 
to bid farewell to his native village and carve out his own fortune 
in the new world. As he had not money to ride, he simplified mat- 
ters, and determined to walk the entire distance to the seashore. 
From his home to the coast of Holland, in a straight line, the dis- 
tance is about two hundred and fifty miles ; it was probably over 
three hundred by the curving roads over hill and valley which, as 
a pedestrian, he had to take. Setting out with a limited but com- 
fortable change of clothing, and his little hoard of money, he 
courageously took up the path to the seashore, and after some 
weeks of travel, which cost but little for the homely fare and 
lodging he required, he reached the coast of Holland, and engaged 
passage in a Dutch smack bound direct for London. 

The lad had two objects in going to England: one was, under the 
friendly protection of his brother, to gain some knowledge of the 
English language, and the other was to earn a sufficient sum to 
pay for the voyage across the Atlantic. He remained with his 
brother in London four years, diligently assisting him in his busi- 
ness, acquiring not only the language, but information about the 
United States, and generally learning all he could in any way 
related to trade and commerce. 

In 1783 the treaty of Versailles was announced, securing peace 
between the late colonies in America and the British government. 
This was a favorable time for young Astor to make his long in- 
tended voyage. In November of that year he engaged passage 
on board of a vessel bound for Baltimore, taking with him a small 
sum of money, and six or seven flutes valued at $75 each, which 
he was to sell on his brother's account. The voyage was long 
and stormy, and the ship did not arrive at Hampton Roads until 
January of 1784, and then unfortunately was detained by the ice 
accumulated in Chesapeake Bay for some three months ! Other 



48 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

ships were likewise frozen in, and the passengers on the ice-bound 
fleet, to break the monotony of their forced idleness, used to pass 
from one vessel to another making visits and forming new ac- 
quaintances. Among the passengers on one of the vessels was a 
German who had previously been in America and engaged in the 
fur trade. Young Astor was deeply interested in his accounts of 
his journeys through the primeval forest, the hunting of the beaver, 
and the pursuits of other animals, the trade with the red men, the 
coursing of rivers in birch canoes, and all the picturesque incidents 
attending the pursuit of trade among a savage people, and in 
regions beyond the settlements of civilization. But more en- 
trancing than all these narratives was the story which the stranger 
told of the immense profits to be derived from this sort of com- 
merce. Astor had an exceedingly retentive memory ; he ques- 
tioned his newly found friend not only about the regions to be 
traversed, the nature of the people he had to deal with, but also 
about the habits of the various animals whose skins were market- 
able ; also of the proper season of the year in which to visit the 
trading-posts ; indeed upon every practical point relating to the 
business. Not a fact or a suggestion was lost upon him. He 
made up his mind then and there that ultimately he should engage 
in the fur trade ; but at present he had no capital, and he must first, 
find some employment by which he could earn a support and save 
something for the future with which he could trade and increase 
his capital. How long he remained in Baltimore is uncertain — 
probably but a very short time ; for we soon find him in New York, 
not, as his eloquent biographer, Washington Irving, represents, 
launching at once into the fur trade, but in a far humbler capacity. 
He did not at once find his brother. In the summer of 1784 he 
was at the house of a German named George Dietrich, an old 
acquaintance, with whom he first put up on arriving in the city. 
Dieterich was a baker ; his house and shop was on a corner of 
Pearl and Frankfort streets (Pearl was then called Queen street). 
Young Astor agreed to assist him in his business, and at once 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 49 

entered upon his duties. The manners of those primitive times 
differed considerably from the present. The city was so small, 
extending but little above the present site of the City Hall, that 
a smart young man could easily traverse the whole of it in a day. 
As we know, John Jacob was an able pedestrian, and this accom- 
plishment came into immediate use in the service of his employer, 
the custom being then for bakers to send out their apprentices or 
other workmen with large baskets of cake, rusks, doughnuts, etc., 
to be sold either to regular or transient customers, and in this 
occupation Mr. Astor earned his first money in New York. 

A sister of Mr. Astor's, who had also emigrated to this land of 
promise, and who had married a distiller named Miller, possibly a 
little envious in the latter years of her life of the astonishing suc- 
cess of her brother, was somewhat fond of remarking in her imper- 
fect English, " That Yakob was noting put a paker boy, und solt 
preat und kak." 

It has been stated that subsequently Mr. Astor went into the 
baking business on his own account, but no positive evidence is 
found of this, and it is highly improbable, as he regarded this em- 
ployment as temporary and merely as the first means offered of 
replenishing his exhausted resources. 

It was while engaged in this business of peddling cakes for 
honest Dietrich that young John Jacob discovered his brother, who 
was then in the employment of a prosperous butcher. Had Henry 
Astor, who afterwards acquired a considerable fortune, been in 
business for himself, he would have been more easily found by his 
younger brother. 

The flutes which young Astor had brought with him had been 
sold, but on these he received only a commission, the capital hav- 
ing to be returned to his brother in London. These were box- 
wood flutes, having ten holes and six keys, and were considered a 
great improvement on those in common use, which had only four 
keys. One of these flutes, bearing the trade inscription, "Astor No. 
6, W. Y. C. R. Street, London," is yet in the possession of a gentle- 
4 



5C JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

man in Hoboken, N. J. It has been repaired more than once, and is 
still in a usable condition. But modern instruments so far exceed 
this specimen of a past age, that its owner now preserves "the 
Astor flute" more as a relic than for its mellowness of tone. 

The first building which Mr. Astor ever hired on his own ac- 
count was a dilapidated wooden building- standing detached on some 
open lots on Pearl street, above what is now known as Franklin 
Square. Through some German friends he had procured a small con- 
signment of toys, and what we should now call " bric-a-brac" objects, 
from his fatherland, all his first savings having been thus invested: 
many of these were great novelties at the time, and Mr. Astor 
soon doubled his money, and reinvesting in this profitable kind of 
stock, gradually accumulated the small capital with which he made 
his first essay in the fur business. Having become acquainted 
with Mr. Peter Smith (the father of Gerrit Smith) he made 
several tours in connection with him through the central and 
western portions of the State of New York ; taking with him 
cheap trinkets and many articles from his late stock in trade, 
he bartered them with the Indians for their furs, and it was 
during these first years that, seeing frequent opportunities of using 
more money to advantage than he possessed, he was in the habit 
of asking loans from his brother Henry, who had apparently pros- 
pered faster than himself, and was now in business on his own 
account. For a while the elder accommodated the young fur trader; 
but the requests for loans became too frequent to be agreeable, 
and Henry was not very well pleased, and rather rebuked his 
brother, saying that " he never borrowed money of any one." But 
as long as John Jacob could get the money, he swallowed the rebuffs 
and rebukes like the practical philosopher that he was. At last 
Henry's patience became exhausted, and on being asked for 
another loan of two hundred dollars, he made this proposition: "I 
will not lend you the two hundred dollars, but I will give you one 
hundred dollars on this condition, that you never ask me to lend 
you anything again, and also that you will not ask me to become 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 5 1 

security or sign any notes for you." The proposition was ac- 
cepted. Henry fulfilled his part on the spot, and we believe it was 
observed with equal exactitude by John Jacob. In 1785 Mr. Astor 
was so far prosperous from the profits of his purchases of peltries 
from the Hurons and Ottawas, and their sale to the larger dealers, 
that he ventured on matrimony with Miss Sarah Todd, who, it is 
said, brought him a dowry of $300. 

He had made several trips to Montreal and Ottawa ; to the 
former place for the purpose of shipping his peltries, for at this 
period, 1785, there was no organized fur-trade or regular line of 
business in peltries in the United States. All the shipments made 
from Canada were sent to London, as the colony was not per- 
mitted to export goods to any foreign country, the United States, 
of course, included in the word " foreign." 

Perhaps the most profitable of Mr. Astor's early ventures was 
on the occasion of his first commercial trip to London. He had 
bought a large number of beaver-skins, which at that time were 
not in demand for the American market ; these were stored for 
safe-keeping in whiskey-barrels in his cellar. He had no regular 
connections in London in the line of his business, and he was 
somewhat perplexed to know how he could most promptly turn 
his money on them — they were drawing no interest in the cellar. 
On this occasion, as on many others, he consulted his wife, a very 
shrewd and intelligent woman. She advised that he should take 
them himself to London, rather than to trust an unknown agent 
with their sale. This he finally decided to do, taking passage in 
the steerage to save expense. Fortunately, he found not only a 
good market for his furs, but also a friend of his boyhood's days, 
through whom he was aided materially in laying the foundation 
of his great fortune, though not realizing the favor at the time. 

Having disposed of his furs and purchased in return a mixed 
lot of goods, such as he thought would be salable in New York, 
he engaged for a passage home in a ship which was not quite 
ready to sail ; in fact he was detained about two weeks. Of course 



52 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

he was not idle ; these days were spent in visiting those places, 
seeking out those persons, and making such inquiries as could 
throw any light upon the business he was engaged in and on 
mercantile affairs generally. As a matter of course he did not 
omit visiting the great East India Company's house ; here he 
learned that the governor was a native of Germany, and that he 
also bore a name that was familiar in the old village of Waldorf. 
Mr. Astor never missed his opportunities ; he sent in his name 
with a request to see the governor. He was at once admitted, 
and, after a few general remarks, the following colloquy occurred: 
"Is not your first name Wilhelm?" asked Astor, "and did you 
not go to school in such a place?" "Indeed I did/* replied the 
governor ; " and now I remember you very well, Hans Jacob, and 
right glad I am to meet you here." Then ensued an interchange 
of questions, in which the progress of each was disclosed, the 
interview terminating with the governor inviting Mr. Astor to 
dine with him. An early day was appointed, and again the old 
friends met, the governor at that time being naturally in a posi- 
tion to look upon his visitor as a protege to be benefited. He 
asked Mr. Astor what he could do for him? The latter affirmed 
there was nothing he desired to ask ; his friend was persistent, 
but the young merchant declared he "needed neither cash nor 
credit." They met again, and for several successive days, and at 
each interview the governor seemed more and more determined 
to force some gift upon his countryman ; but Mr. Astor's feeling 
of independence was aroused, and he could not be induced to 
name a favor he would accept. The governor, however, was not 
to be circumvented, and just before the ship sailed, which was to 
convey Mr. Astor to New York, the governor, who appeared to 
have become quite attached to him, handed him two papers, 
remarking, as he did so, " Take these : you may some day find 
their value." Not to hurt his friend's feelings by a refusal at the 
moment of parting, Mr. Astor took them without knowing their 
nature or how they could benefit him ; nor on the first examina- 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 53 

tion of them did he appreciate their worth. One was a " Canton 
Prices Current," and the other a " Permit," " No. 68 " (engrossed 
on parchment), authorizing the ship which carried it "to trade,' 
freely and without molestation, at any of the ports subject to the 
East India Company." As at that time Mr. Astor owned no 
ships, and had no trade either with Canton or any other port in 
the Orient, the value of the documents looked rather mythical. 
On his arrival at home, showing these papers to his wife, he 
remarked, that " though apparently considered of value by the 
governor, they are of no use to me, as I have no ships." " Wait," 
said Mrs. Astor, "perhaps something will occur, so that you can 
either use them yourself or dispose of them to advantage." 
After thinking the matter over a few days, Mrs. Astor advised 
her husband to go and see a merchant in the West India trade, 
and see if he could be persuaded to send one of his ships to the 
East Indies, taking out a mixed cargo and bringing home tea. 
Mr. Astor coincided with this idea, and made the proposition to a 
Mr. Livermore, on the condition that the merchant should furnish 
the ship and cargo, and that Mr. Astor should give up to him the 
"Permit" and "Prices Current," the profits to be equally divided 
between them. The contributions toward the voyage scarcely 
looked equal, and Mr. Livermore at first rejected the proposition 
as chimerical. But shortly after, having more maturely reflected 
upon it, the merchant came to Mr. Astor and closed with his con- 
ditions. At this time there was no trade between this country 
and the East Indies, nor was Canton open to American vessels ; 
it was necessary, therefore, to have a British permit to enter any 
of those ports. Hence the value of the privilege nestling in that 
bit of parchment entitled " Permit 68." 

A good-sized ship was selected and loaded with lead, scrap- 
iron, ginseng (a root used for medicinal purposes by the Chinese), 
and, lastly, thirty thousand dollars in Spanish coin. The vessel 
sailed direct for Canton, and, thanks to the " Permit," was allowed 
to anchor at Whampoa, the usual rendezvous for foreign vessels, 



54 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

just below the city. The profit of the ginseng alone was over 
three hundred per cent. ; the lead and scrap-iron brought fabulous 
prices as compared with the cost. With the proceeds of the 
cargo the ship was reloaded with tea, which produced a profit of 
one dollar for every pound. The result of the voyage was a net 
gain of $110,000, of which Mr. Astor received his moiety, $55,000, 
in the shape of several barrels full of milled dollars. Of course 
successive voyages followed this initial venture, and for several 
years Mr. Astor followed up this successful beginning on his own 
account. Receiving back the magic " Permit," Mr. Astor bought 
a suitable vessel and an assorted cargo, and sent her to Canton, 
with orders to touch at the Sandwich Islands for water, fresh pro- 
visions and firewood. Arrived at Canton, an intelligent Mandarin 
came on board, and noticing the "firewood," immediately per- 
ceived that it was sandal-wood, one of the most valuable products 
used in Chinese manufactures. The captain did not know its 
value, but perceiving the Mandarin's interest in it, proposed to 
sell it, allowing the Chinese to make the first offer ; to his utter 
astonishment the latter said he would take the lot at $500 a ton. 
Everything seemed to turn to gold under that precious " Permit," 
the value of which was now fully recognized, and for seventeen 
years Mr. Astor enjoyed a complete monopoly of the American 
trade with Canton in sandal-wood. 

Finally a Boston merchant detailed one of his ships simply to 
follow the course of Mr. Astor' s vessel and to find out the secret 
of her voyage. Then the knowledge that sandal-wood could be 
obtained in the Sandwich Islands was no longer a secret. But 
while the profitable China trade was in progress Mr. Astor still 
pursued the fur-trade with unabated interest, sending his richest 
and finest peltries to Canton, and receiving back cargoes of tea. 
Still the British companies had control of the finest hunting 
grounds, which they protected from all intruders by means of well- 
garrisoned trading-posts, located at intervals from the Hudson Bay 
country to beyond the Lake Superior region. To add to the dififi- 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 55 

culties of the American hunters, the forts which were located along 
our northern frontier, and which had been held by the British 
during the war of the Revolution, had not been given up at the 
treaty of peace. Some excuse was always forthcoming to post- 
pone the day of surrender; and, while these posts remained in 
British hands, they completely dominated over the Indian hunters 
and were able to put many obstacles in the way of American 
traders, even to the petty device of threatening, persuading, 
menacing and bribing the boatmen and coureur des bois from engag- 
ing in the employment of the latter. But a new phase in the 
affairs of the country and the fur interest was fast approaching. 
About 1 791 Captain Grey, of Boston, had discovered the mouth 
of the Columbia river, and about the same time the valuable sea 
otter was found to abound on the Pacific coast. In 1794 the 
British rule (under Jay's treaty) abandoned the frontier forts, thus 
leaving an immense stretch of the northwestern country open to 
the enterprise of American hunters. But the pursuit of peltries 
cannot be conducted profitably by individuals ; organized com- 
panies are indispensable to the most successful prosecution of this 
industry, which requires large numbers of men, capable of tra- 
versing long distances over land and water, and able to protect 
themselves from attacks of Indians, wild animals, and other 
dangers. By this treaty, also, greater freedom was given to 
foreign commerce, and all looked favorable for Mr. Astor to carry 
out a grand project which he had been revolving in his mind — 
namely, to secure, in his own hands, and for the benefit of Ameri- 
can commerce, the control of the whole fur trade between the 
Hudson and the Columbia. 

Mr. Astor was at this time about thirty-seven years old, and was 
worth something less than half a million of dollars, which was then 
considered an enormous fortune. His name was already widely 
known from Canton to Oregon, and his influence at home was 
commensurate with his financial pre-eminence ; it was mainly 
through his efforts that a law was passed by Congress excluding 



56 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

British fur-traders from American territory. American vessels 
were already making their way around Cape Horn in considerable 
numbers, and one branch of commerce which they followed was 
that of supplying the Indians in the Russian possessions of the 
northwest coast of America with firearms. The Russian govern- 
ment complained of this to the United States. Thereupon Mr, 
Astor proposed to send regular supply-ships to the Russian estab- 
lishments, from which arms should be excluded, if the government 
on its part would exclude all other trespassers. Mr. Astor's agent 
to St. Petersburg was accorded a free passage in the United States 
ship "John Adams." These negotiations, however, fell through, 
for reasons not necessary to recount here. 

Another interruption to the project of Mr. Astor in regard to 
the establishment of his grand fur-trading colony at the mouth of 
the Columbia was the breaking out of the Indian war, which con- 
tinued from 1794 to 1797, during which period it was exceedingly 
perilous for American hunters to encounter any of the Indian 
tribes, for they were all leagued with the British, whose interest it 
was to keep the fur trade in their own hands. Another incident 
which had an influence on Mr. Astor's grand scheme was the suc- 
cessful transcontinental explorations of Lewis and Clark, who had 
followed the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains, across the pass in 
the vicinity of the upper waters of the Columbia, which they 
claimed to have discovered, and descended that river to its mouth 
on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, in what is now known as the 
Territory of Washington. This was in 1804. The British had 
already established trading-posts within their possessions as far 
west as Wisconsin, and Mr. Astor proposed to establish a similar 
line of posts south of the British boundary, and extending to the 
mouth of the Columbia ; but it was not until 1809 that he obtained 
a charter from the Legislature of New York incorporating "The 
American Fur Company," with a capital of $1,000,000, all furnished 
by Mr. Astor. He was the real company — the board of directors 
were mere nominal partners. Two years later he bought out the 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 57 

British Mackinaw Company, and merged that into a new associa- 
tion, called " The Southwest Company." By this purchase he 
became the immediate proprietor of one-half of all the Indian es- 
tablishments, and also the stock on hand of the Mackinaw Com- 
pany which was within the territory of the United States ; the 
balance was to be surrendered to him at the end of five years. 
Unfortunately, the next year war broke out between the United 
States and Great Britain, which prevented that attention of the 
government to the interests of the northwestern territory which they 
might otherwise have given. The plans were, however, presented 
to President Jefferson, who took a warm interest in the opening up 
of this distant part -of the country to American commerce, but 
even he did not then anticipate the possibility of a political unity 
extending to that extreme point on the Pacific. Finding the 
government unable, through pre-occupation with more pressing 
affairs, to practically assist in the establishment of trading-posts, 
Mr. Astor proposed to the (British) "Northwest Company" to 
take a one-third interest in his project. They requested "time to 
consider," and then used the time, not in considering his proposi- 
tion, but in secretly organizing a band of their employes to steal 
a march upon him and his enterprise by endeavoring to get to the 
mouth of the Columbia first and claim possession of the site ! But 
Mr. Astor was not idle. He organized two parties. One to take 
ship and go round Cape Horn, and the other to go overland, 
following to some extent the course of Lewis and Clark, with the 
understanding that both parties should, on reaching the mouth of 
the Columbia, combine in establishing a permanent trading-post. 
The vessel was to cruise along the Pacific up to the boundary of 
the Russian possessions for the purpose of procuring peltries, 
other vessels to follow as supply-ships and to bring back such furs 
as were not destined to be sent direct to Canton. 

In pursuance of this plan, on the 8th of September, 1810, the 
ship " Tonquin " was despatched, under the command of Captain 
Thorn, an able man, but somewhat of a martinet; the crew was 



58 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

very mixed in character, and besides there were on board several 
persons having some interest in the enterprise called " partners " — 
really agents of Mr. Astor. These were all Scotchmen who had 
been in the employment of the " Northwest Company," and had 
been selected for their experience and supposed efficiency ; one of 
them, Mr. Dougal, considered himself Mr. Astor's proxy. Then 
there were a number of clerks, mostly young French Canadians, 
inclined to scientific observations rather than seamanship, and es- 
pecially given to " taking notes " and " writing journals," an occu- 
pation which the captain detested. One of these young men 
named Gabriel Franchere afterwards published an account of the 
voyage and settlement. The elements of discord were abundant, 
and not infrequently came to the surface. On the 25th of Decem- 
ber, the "Tonquin" doubled Cape Horn, and on the nth of Feb- 
ruary the Sandwich Islands were in sight. There the captain had 
orders to stop for a supply of fresh provisions, and he also hired a 
number of laborers and boatmen to accompany them to the des- 
tined settlement on the Columbia, where the ship arrived on the 
22d of March, having been more than seven moaths on the voy- 
age. A site, however, was not selected until the 12th of April, 
when the cargo was landed at Point George. When a residence, 
storehouse and powder magazine had been completed, the place 
was ceremoniously christened Astoria. 

When the land party sent out by the " Northwest Company," 
to forestall Mr. Astor's plans, appeared on the scene the American 
flag was flying, and discomfited they returned to Montreal. The 
"Tonquin" was ordered to continue her voyage to the north in 
pursuit of peltries, and it did reach the vicinity of Vancouver's Is- 
land. But the captain had succeeded in quarrelling with the native 
Indians, and had also neglected Mr. Astor's express warning, " not 
to let too many Indians come aboard." In revenge for a blow 
given to one of their number, they beset the ship during the early 
morning watch, attacked the officers and crew, and killed the cap- 
tain and many others. Mr. Lewis, seeing that the struggle was 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 59 

hopeless against such numbers, beckoned still more on board, 
descended to the magazine, applied a match, and blew up the ves- 
sel, destroying hundreds of natives, and sacrificing his own life for 
the purpose of revenge. 

When the news reached Mr. Astor, and it was over two years 
before he heard it, he spoke of it with perfect coolness as a " cal- 
amity " the whole results of which he could not well foresee. 

The fortunes of Mr. Astor's land party were varied by dangers 
and suffering, but they reached Astoria in safety. The distance 
from St. Louis, whither they went from New York, in a direct line, 
is not more than eighteen hundred miles, but the distance made 
by this party in their wanderings was over thirty-five hundred 
miles, and they consumed seventeen months in making it. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Astor despatched a supply ship in the autumn 
of 181 1 to the little colony, before any news had reached him from 
either expedition. The arrival of this ship with men and pro- 
visions gave new life to the colonists, and all would have been well, 
perhaps, but for the news of the declaration of war between Eng- 
land and the United States. Most of the leading- men there were 
British subjects, and the few young Americans had little influence 
in the councils of the Scotch " partners," who were little inclined 
to risk their lives or personal interests in the defence of Mr. As- 
tor's rights or property. The most trying part of this whole busi- 
ness to Mr. Astor, except the final loss of Astoria, was the total 
absence of news for such a long period. His first party overland 
started in June, 1810, and he received not a word as to their fate 
until June, 181 3, when he heard of their safe arrival, and before he 
had learned the fate of the " Tonquin," he had sent a second sup- 
ply ship to the Pacific. This vessel was lost. Still mindful of the 
fate of those at the mouth of the Columbia, he was about to send 
a fourth vessel to their relief, when the port of New York was 
blockaded by British cruisers and the project was no longer feasi- 
ble. At this juncture, Mr. Astor appealed to President Monroe 
for aid in protecting " the American settlement at Astoria on 



60 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

the Pacific." The President saw the importance of retaining 
that foothold for American commerce, and had already ordered 
the " John Adams " to be prepared for sea, when the pressing 
request of Commodore Chauncey on the lakes for reinforcements, 
caused the first order to be countermanded, and Mr. Astor was 
again disappointed. 

The British had already ordered a man-of-war " to proceed to 
Astoria, destroy the fort, seize the factory and take possession of 
the place." This news had been brought overland to the little set- 
tlement by an agent of the " Northwest (Fur) Company," and in 
consequence, the head of the colony, Mr. Dougal, sold out all Mr. 
Astor s interest in the place, with the stock of furs on hand, to the 
wily company. When the British cruiser came in sight of the 
" fort," and saw a mere log stockade and but a handful of men, the 
captain and officers were highly indignant. He, however, took 
possession, and the English flag was soon floating over, the debris 
of Mr. Astor's hopes in Astoria, and the name of the place was 
changed to that of Fort George. This was on the 1 2th of Decem- 
ber, 1814. The Americans at the fort were satisfied that treachery 
had been perpetrated. Mr. Dougal had sold the stock far below 
its value, and no sooner had the agent of the " Northwestern Com- 
pany " received it than he caused it to be conveyed in canoes to a 
place of safety up the river, where the British captain could not fol- 
low with his vessel — which, at least, proves that Mr. Dougal 
might have taken the same precaution. He with the other Scotch 
partners immediately transferred their service to the British com- 
pany. The Americans made the best of their way home overland. 
It is pleasant to know that on the treaty of peace Astoria was re- 
stored to the American government, and the original name was 
once more recognized. 

Thus ended one of the grandest schemes ever projected by an 
American merchant for practically extending the boundaries of 
the country, and uniting its extreme longitudinal limits by well- 
defined paths of commerce, linked together by the only means 
then possible — the trading-post and fort. 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 6 1 

Real estate had now become Mr. Astor's leading interest. He 
bought " down town " for present income, " up town " for future 
profit. He owned blocks of houses in every section of the city, and 
also had bought large tracts of land on the Hudson river, between 
Forty-second street and Fifty-first street, and on the East river, and 
in various portions of the upper part of the island. He built the 
first hotel of any considerable size in the city. This was the 
" City Hotel," on Broadway, near Trinity Church ; this structure 
has long since been demolished to make room for business 
houses. Afterward he built the Astor House, situated in the very 
" eye of New York," and he also built the Park Theatre, on Park 
Row, which has also given place to the progress of business 

At one period Mr. Astor was in the habit of investing two- 
thirds of his net income in land, for which he always paid cash. 
He never mortgaged anything, nor made one investment carry 
another. A good story is told of him in connection with his real 
estate operations. When the project was first broached of build- 
ing the Erie railroad, the late Judge Bruckholtz Livingston and 
Mr. Joseph Hoxie called on Mr. Astor to induce him to help the 
enterprise by taking some of the stock. In their zeal they urged 
with great earnestness the certainty that the opening of the road 
would greatly raise the value of real estate in New York. This 
was a mistaken way to argue with him, as they soon found out: 
"Gentlemen," he said, in his somewhat querulous way, when he 
did not favor a proposition, " I do not want to sell real estate ; / 
want to buyV 

Mr. Astor continued in active business about fifty years, and 
lived twenty-five after that in opulent retirement with his children 
and grandchildren. He had two principal modes of recreation : 
one was horse-back riding, and the other was the drama. He 
was all his life an early riser, at first from necessity, and afterward 
through habit. While other merchants went to their offices at 
half-past nine or ten in the morning, he was there by seven 
o'clock; but he was capable of such close application, that he 



62 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

generally got through the business of the day by 2 r. m. ; then he 
took his horse and rode out into the suburbs, no doubt casting a 
keen eye on any desirable lots which were likely to come into the 
market. In the evening he often went to the theatre, and was 
seen there on the evening of the day on which he had received 
the news of the destruction of the " Tonquin." One of his friends, 
remarking to him that he " should not think he would be in good 
spirits enough to be out at the play," he responded: "What do 
you think I should do, stay at home and cry ? " 

One of Mr. Astor's striking characteristics was the coolness 
with which he received ill news; another was the patience with 
which he could wait for results, good or bad. He also had an 
exceedingly retentive memory, and could tell the exact details of 
events which had taken place a dozen years before, especially if 
these were connected with a bargain. 

Mr. Astor was of great benefit in many ways to New York, but 
none of his improvements in building up the city of his adoption 
are likely to be remembered by any save the local historian except 
the one great literary institution which bears his name — the Astor 
Library. 

The precise form which Mr. Astor's great benefaction took was 
probably owing to the advice of his friend, the late Henry Bre- 
voort, Esq., who was not only a highly-educated man himself, but 
a patron of learning and all the refining arts. Mr. Astor, in the 
latter years of his life, frequently expressed the intention of leav- 
ing a handsome bequest to the city in which he had accumulated 
his great fortune, and Mr. Brevoort, agreeing, strongly urged the 
establishment of a free building for reference, on the plan of the 
library in the British Museum. 

Mr. John Jacob Astor died on the 29th of March, 1848, in the 
eighty-fifth year of his age. He had by will, executed so early as 
1836, bequeathed the sum of $400,000 for the establishment of the 
long contemplated library ; he had selected the lots himself on 
Lafayette place, and, with his usual caution in all money transac- 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 6$ 

tions, took every care to have his will in this particular strictly 
carried out. By the words of this instrument his executors were 
authorized " to erect a suitable building, to supply books, maps, 
charts, casts, statues, models, drawings, paintings, engravings and 
furniture upon an ample scale and liberal character." The library 
was also to be absolutely free, and to be open and " accessible at 
all reasonable hours." Eleven trustees were to be selected from 
among " professional and educated men." The mayor of New 
York, and the chancellor of the State of New York, were to be 
always included in the number. These trustees were to be sub- 
ject to legal supervision to be assured against breach of trust. 
All the funds for this he directed should be invested in the Public 
Debt of the United States, the States of the Union or the city of 
New York — the testator wisely adding "as long as such invest- 
ments may be had." 

The executors were also to procure " the necessary legal assure- 
ment for securing the application of the fund." The list of the first 
trustees chosen is interesting, being all well-known men — namely, 
Washington Irving, William B. Astor, Daniel Lord, Jr., James G. 
King, Joseph G. Cogswell, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Henry Brevoort, 
Jr., Samuel B. Ruggles, Samuel Ward, Jr., and, by codicil, Charles 
Astor Bristed. 

The first books intended for the library had been bought in the 
spring of 1839, and consisted of forty volumes from Mayor Doug- 
las' sale of books. They were principally historical, travels, or 
antiquities and architecture. This nucleus, with others subse- 
quently added, were stored in a house hired for the purpose in 
Bond street. The year in which Mr. Astor died, 1848, was that 
exciting time which witnessed the great upheaval of revolutionary 
forces in Europe, depriving many princes of their patrimony in its 
early stages, and scattering the leaders of progress in its subsid- 
ence, causing on both sides great fluctuations in the conditions of 
individuals. Many distinguished persons became either voluntary 
or involuntary exiles; and, by the disturbance of fortunes and 



64 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

estates, many valuable libraries were thrown upon the European 
market. It was a poor time to sell, but a very good one to buy, 
and, mindful of the wishes of his father, Mr. William B. Astor 
seized the opportunity, authorizing the late Dr. Cogswell to pro- 
ceed to Europe and make such purchases as he thought suitable, 
furnishing money for this object from his own funds. 

The only work bought personally by the founder for his great 
library was "Audubon's Birds of America." Besides his bequest 
for the library, Mr. Astor left $20,000 to the Society for the Home 
for Aged Indigent Females, and $25,000 to the German Society 
for the city of New York, specially specifying that in the office of 
this society " there should be employed German-speaking persons, 
to give aid and advice to German emigrants," a want he had per- 
haps felt himself when he landed a stranger on these shores. He 
also left $50,000 " for the use of the poor of the village of Wal- 
dorf, in the duchy of Baden, in Germany." This request requires 
that " a building should be erected in which the ignorant were to 
be instructed." The Grand Duke of Baden has taken great in- 
terest in seeing that this fund was properly administered. 

Mr. Astor had been brought up in the tenets of the Lutheran 
faith, and he never changed on that point. He was a member of 
the German Reformed congregation of New York, and, to his 
latest day, held in veneration the Protestant Bible and prayer- 
book of his youth. He was also a Freemason, and was con- 
nected with the aristocratic Holland lodge, and through that 
august body received the only decorative title he ever enjoyed. 
By his brethren of the mystic tie he was called " Sir John Jacob." 

Mr. Astor was not what would be called a liberal man. He 
detested little indiscriminate charities, and, before he gave away 
his good money, would know exactly how it was to be used. His 
great physical trial was the partial loss of eye-sight in advanced 
age, but he bore this, as he always did the irremediable, with pa- 
tience. Mr. Astor was the father of seven children, three sons 
and four daughters. One son and one daughter died young, and 




W. B. ASTOR. 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 65 

his second son, John Jacob, was afflicted with chronic brain trouble 
nearly all his life, so that he was never engaged in business. His 
eldest daughter, Magdalen, married, first, Governor Bentzen, a 
native of Denmark. He was Governor of the island of Santa 
Cruz. There were two children born of this marriage. After 
the death of her husband Mrs. Bentzen married an Englishman, 
the Rev. John Bristed. They had one son, Charles Bristed, 
born October 6, 1820. In 1844 he took the name of his grand- 
father as Charles Astor Bristed, and, under the nom de plume of 
" Carl Benson," was known as a writer of several interesting books 
and sketches. He is the only one of the Astors who has "dropped 
into literature " deceased. 

The third daughter, Dorothea, married Walter Langdon, of 
New Hampshire. The fourth daughter, Eliza, married Count 
Vincent Rumpff, minister at Paris for the Hanse towns or free 
cities of Germany. Of the eldest son we have more to say. Mr. 
John Jacob Astor left to this son $20,000,000. 

William B. Astor. 

Mr. William Backhouse Astor was born in New York on the 
19th of September, 1793, at 147 Broadway, then occupied by his 
father as both store and dwelling-house. After receiving a good 
education at Columbia College, New York, he spent several years 
in Germany at the University of Gottingen, and was a pupil of 
Bunsen's. On his return home he engaged in business, assisting 
his father in the management of his already large real estate in- 
terests. Mr. Astor's natural taste, fostered by study and the 
society of scholars abroad, inclined him to literary pursuits, but he 
was too sensible of the great interests at stake in his father's pos- 
sessions to gratify the desire of the scholar at the expense of the 
patrimony which his father had acquired by years of toil and 
anxiety. He therefore accepted his destiny, and went to his desk 
in the office with as much punctuality as the most dependent 
clerk employed there. 
5 



66 JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

As years passed on he gradually assumed the care of the busi- 
ness, and for more than twenty years before his father's death, 
was virtually the head of the firm. As for many years the Astors 
had withdrawn from the competitions of commerce, and devoted 
all their attention to their vast real estate interests, William B. 
had none of those adventurous projects on hand which have 
added such a romantic interest to the first half of old John Jacob's 
life. William B.'s tastes and manners were quiet and unobtru- 
sive ; he did not exploit himself either in any boisterous or fantas- 
tic way to draw the attention of the groundlings ; he gave no 
grand parties or balls, entertaining his intimate friends in an 
unostentatious manner, all the time steadily adding to the value 
of the great fortune which he had received. Even before the' 
death of his father, he had received a bequest of $500,000 from 
his uncle Henry; so that, to preserve this, was work enough, and 
Mr. William B. showed no feverish anxiety to increase it ; but 
increase it must from its very nature ; the value of such property 
rising with the increase of population, and the tendency of busi- 
ness to press up town, where much of the Astor property is 
located. 

Mr. William B. Astor resided for many years in Lafayette Place, 
next door to the south side of the library. He married, in 18 18, 
Margaret, the daughter of General Armstrong, of Pennsylvania. 
His second wife was Alida Livingston. Of this marriage there 
were seven children ; like his father, he lost two, it being rather a 
singular coincidence that these deceased children of each family 
bore the same name — " Henry " and " Sarah." The eldest daugh- 
ter, Emily, married Mr. Samuel Ward, Jr. ; Laura E. became Mrs. 
Francklin Delano, named above as the donor of the classical busts 
in the Astor Library. Alida married Mr. John Cary. The eldest 
son, John Jacob, the present head of the family, was born in 182 1. 
He married the daughter of Mr. Thomas S. Gibbes. 

Mr. John Jacob Astor has the quiet tastes of his father ; he is 
a happy example of the kind of citizens, often derived from for- 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 6j 

eign stock, who are more American- in their feelings than some 
of the native-born ; he is a gentleman of education and good pres- 
ence. He accompanied the Army of the Potomac as an aide-de- 
camp on General McClellan's staff, and saw considerable service 
in the field. He has one son, and the name which he bestowed 
upon his only child shows that the origin of the family is rather a 
matter of pride with him than the contrary. The boy was named 
William Waldorf, and thus the name of that little German hamlet 
is now borne proudly back to Europe, in the person of William 
Waldorf Astor, the present American minister to Rome. Mr. 
William W. had served in the State Legislature previous to his 
appointment abroad. He is one of the most energetic of the 
younger branches of the family, and the first who has mixed in 
the local politics of the city. He was born in 1848, and is the 
fourth in direct descent from the founder of the family in New 
York. From his grandfather, the late William B. Astor, he 
inherited a full moiety of the vast accumulations of property held 
by him. Its value is not known, but on the death of Mr. Wil- 
liam B. it was estimated anywhere between $50,000,000 and 
$100,000,000. 

William Waldorf Astor was educated partly in New York, com- 
pleting his university studies in Germany, and art in Rome. He 
subsequently studied law in Columbia College, and was admitted 
to the bar. It was never his intention to practice in the courts, 
but he wisely thought that a knowledge of law would be 
extremely useful in the management of his immense property, 
enabling him to prevent litigation, and to avoid the thraldom con- 
sequent upon the forced employment of legal agents. Although 
Mr. William B. Astor left to his sons only a life-interest in the 
estate, conferring the fee-simple upon his grandsons, this disposi- 
tion of his property does not seem to have affected the respect 
with which at least young William W. always regarded his father, 
carrying this deference even to the extent of making his accept- 
ance of a political nomination contingent upon his father's 



6$ JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

approval ; yet at that very time he had the sole control of the 
vast monetary interests of the family. When apprised of the 
nomination of his son to an elective office, Mr. John Jacob was 
much gratified. It was while a member of the State Legislature 
that young Mr. Astor married Miss Mary D., daughter of James 
W. Paul, of Philadelphia ; he subsequently ran for Congress in 
the Eleventh New York district, but was badly beaten by the 
Democratic candidate, Mr. Roswell P. Flower ; Mr. Astor' s course 
in the Assembly had not been satisfactory to the majority of his 
constituents on several points. 

Mr. William W.'s specialty is love of art, particularly sculpture. 
He is also a most genial host, and his friends say that " his wine 
does not give one the headache." In Rome Mr. Astor inhabits a 
suite of apartments — fine salons en suite, of magnificent size, in 
one of those enormous palaces to be met with, for hire, only in 
Rome. On the occasion of " Washington's Birthday," the present 
year, Mr. Astor gave a reception to a thousand invited guests at 
his home and official residence, in the colossal Palazzo Ruspigliosi, 
when the American flag was entwined in fraternal folds with the 
emblem of redeemed Italy. Though Mr. Astor has made some 
mistakes in his political career, he is not above learning from 
experience. We believe he has a bright future before him. 

Mr. William B. Astor died at his house on Fifth avenue, corner 
of Thirty-fifth street, November 24th, 1875. One of the finest, as 
it is also one of the rarest works of art permanently located in 
New York is the Altar and Reredos erected in the chancel of Trinity 
Church, to his memory, by his sons, John Jacob and William. The 
Reredos is thirty-five feet in width, and its central apex reaches 
fully twenty feet from the floor. It is designed in the perpendicu- 
lar style of Gothic, so as to harmonize with the general architecture 
of the church. The chief material of which it is composed is Caen 
stone, and it is adorned with a profusion of delicate carved work ; 
much of this representing natural foliage. In the lower portion on 
each side of the Altar are three square panels filled with colored 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 69 

mosaics in geometrical patterns ; above the line of the super-altar 
are seven panels of white marble sculptured in alto-relievo, repre- 
senting incidents in the life of Christ, immediately preceding and 
subsequent to the Last Supper ; this is modeled after the cele- 
brated picture by Leonardo da Vinci. 

The cost of this superb piece of church decoration and filial me- 
morial is not known, the brothers Astor never having divulged it. 
It is estimated that it cannot have been less than $50,000. Part of 
the carving was done in England, but much of it was by American 
artisans ; as was its erection under the direction of a New York 
architect. Unfortunately all this beautiful work is comparatively 
lost to the view of the public. The great depth of the chancel pre- 
vents the finest portion of the work being perceived ; the light 
entering from the window above, at the back, tends to obscure 
rather than to display it. On vainly endeavoring to examine it 
from the front for the nave, many would-be admirers feel inclined 
to agree with the poet : 

" Full many a gem of purest ray serene " 

The dark unfathomed depths of chancel bear ; 
Full many a flower was carv'd to hide unseen 
And waste its beauty on the gloomy air. 

Some device for throwing light upon this fine piece of work is 
sadly needed, and is due to the Astor brothers who presented it 
to the church. 

Mr. William Astor, one of the above donors, and second son 
of William B., resides like his brother on Fifth avenue, in a 
spacious and elegant house, but not of the ornate description of 
some more recently erected. He married a daughter of Abraham 
Schermerhorn, and this lady is the acknowledged leader of fashion- 
able society in New York ; their house is a reservoir of art objects. 
Mr. Astor's picture gallery vies with the best in the city, while 
statues, tapestries, Sevres china and other bric-a-brac curi meet 
one at every step. The amount and beauty of Mrs. Astor's dia- 
monds and other precious gems would create envy in the breast 



j JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 

of many a European princess. She is said to possess the only solid 
gold dinner-service in the United States. Though shining in so- 
ciety, Mrs. William Astor has thought for other objects ; with the 
utmost savoirvivre she knows how to interest herself for the needy. 
She has five children of her own in New York, but it is sometimes 
jocosely said that " she has a thousand out West," which means 
that she has so materially assisted the " Children's Aid Society," 
as to have been the means of placing over a thousand destitute 
little waifs of the metropolis in comfortable Western homes. She 
is especially skillful in organizing benefit performances for the aid of 
deserving objects, and as we write, we notice her name in the 
Herald of April i, 1883, heading the list of nearly one hundred 
lady patronesses of a public entertainment, to be given for the 
benefit of the " Bartholdi Fund," which may be considered an ob- 
ject of national interest. 

The Astor family differ from most of our wealth)/" men in the 
fact that they have never haunted Wall street, or dealt in fanciful 
speculations ; they have, as a practice, avoided railroad stocks and 
Western mines; they have scorned petroleum and "oil wells;" 
and instead, clung with great pertinacity to what lawyers call the 
" realties." Solid city lots, and solid structures upon them, consti- 
tute the basis of their wealth ; and, in the ownership of this class 
of property, they have no peer in the city, or, we believe, elsewhere 
in the United States. This family rates A 1 in the "American 
Lloyd's," which takes note of the substantial qualities of so-called 
" great fortunes." 

It has been announced very recently that Mr. John Jacob Astor 
has deeded all his property to his only son. It is said that this 
step is taken in consideration of the fact that Mr. Astor is an old 
man, and the value of his immense estate would otherwise, in case 
of his death, be made public. His son receives everything; 
subject, however, to a pension for himself of $100,000 yearly. 
Another point secured by this arrangement is, that the estate will 
not be divided among different heirs. There has never been any 



JOHN JACOB ASTOR. 7 1 

litigation in the Astor family, and the wise heads of it propose 
that there shall not be any in future. The New York World, in 
commenting upon this step of Mr. Astor's, says : 

"It has always been the idea of Mr. John Jacob Astor's life 
practically to entail his property, and to have the estate remain 
intact from generation to generation, as in England. The present 
John Jacob Astor's father died about eight years ago, bequeathing 
his property to John Jacob and William Astor and to his grand- 
daughter, the late Mrs. John W. Chanler. 

"At that time, the estate was worth about $30,000,000 or 
$40,000,000. It was then mainly unproductive. John Jacob Astor 
received the largest part of the estate, including the Astor House, 
which was deeded to him for $1. The golden principle of the 
Astor family was never to build until forced to do so, and when 
a building was put up it was intended to last for years. The 
estate grew more valuable each year, and solid houses were 
built upon the land, until to-day the value is really unknown. 
Most of the property lies between Twenty-third street and Fiftieth 
street, from Eighth to Third Avenue. Murray Hill lies in the 
heart of the family possessions. Blocks and blocks of houses here 
belong to John Jacob Astor, all of which he has deeded to his son. 
The value of John Jacob Astor's estate is estimated at from be- 
tween $60,000,000 and $70,000,000, and William B.'s estate at 
something less. The present Mr. Astor's idea is for his son to 
follow the same course he has, and so on through generations." 



JOHN W. MACKAY. 

A great many persons have heard, and even used, die word 
" Big Bonanza " who have no idea, or a very vague conception, of 
what it means. Out of ten persons to whom the question was ad- 
dressed, " What is the Big Bonanza ? " nine answered that they 
" believed it was a gold mine/' How the word bonanza came to 
be introduced into California is not now known, though it was first 
applied to that immense body of ore discovered in the " Consoli- 
dated Virginia " and " California " mines in the Comstock lode, 
among the Washoe Hills, in Nevada. But the derivation of the 
word is totally disconnected with mining interests — it is a nautical 
phrase from the Spanish, and means "fair weather at sea," or "to 
sail with fair wind and weather ; " metaphorically speaking, to go 
on prosperously — to do well. Other persons have been called 
bonanza kings, but the title is most justly claimed by the trio — 
Flood, Fair and Mackay, the latter coming later into the company, 
but being reckoned now the richest of the three. 

John Mackay was born in Dublin (of Scotch-Irish ancestry) in 
November, 1835, but while a minor came to the United States, and 
was for some time employed by the well-known ship-builder, 
William H. Webb, of New York. When the gold-fever broke 
out, young Mackay succumbed to the excitement, and in the 
autumn of 1852 we find him on the way to fame and fortune in 
the Golden State — sailing round the Horn in one of Webb's vessels. 
What knowledge of mining he may have acquired before starting 
is uncertain — possibly none — but he had made up his mind to 
enter the best practical school in the world. On his arrival in 
California he went immediately to Sierra county, which was then 
(72) 




JOHN W. MACKAY. 



JOHN W. MACKAY. 73 

promising well, and commenced placer mining on a small scale. 
He worked hard and was able to accumulate a small sum above 
his expenses, and it must be remembered that everything was ex- 
cessively dear at that time. His immediate object was to get to 
Nevada, where, in company with a friend, one Kinney Said, he pro- 
posed to tunnel on a section of the " Union," which lay on the 
north of the famous Ophir mine. This first venture of his turned 
out unfortunately ; he spent all his savings and made nothing. He 
was consequently obliged to take employment and work for a 
while in the neighboring " Mexican " mine. Here at least he 
could earn something more than a living, and he was learning all 
the time in that great school of experience which enabled him in 
the near future to select his ground with more probability of suc- 
cess. No doubt every one in those early days who went to the 
mines hoped for exceptional good fortune, but none anticipated the 
vast amounts which have since been realized ; two or three hun- 
dred thousand dollars would have been thought a great stroke of 
luck, and Mr. Mackay's ambition, as he has often said, was at that 
time limited to the desire of a decent competency for himself and 
aged mother. Mr. Mackay's fortune fluctuated ; now he seemed 
on the verge of a great success, then the hope disappeared, only 
to be revived again a few days or a few weeks afterwards : yet he 
worked so perseveringly that his accumulations, though not rapid, 
were continuous. But he was not content with the slow pace at 
which he was progressing. His first really fortunate hit was made 
in the " Kentuck " mine, in the town of Gold Hill, in Storey county, 
Nevada. The surface rock here was highly auriferous in free 
gold, and required only the simplest mechanical means to extract 
it. Yet even here all was not sunshine ; gloomy days intervened. 
Luck appeared at one time to have deserted the place, and, after 
some other experiments, Mr. Mackay, in 1863, formed a business 
arrangement with J. M. Walker, of Virginia. The next year the 
partnership was enlarged by the accession of Messrs. Flood and 
O'Brien, and these worked in harmony and to good profit for 



74 JOHN W. MACKAY. 

some four years, when Mr. Walker withdrew, his place being filled 
by Mr. James G. Fair. This company had obtained a controlling 
interest in the " Hale and Norcross " silver mine. This mine lies 
on the path of the Comstock as it turns towards Gold Hill ; it is 
one of those which has helped on the fame of Comstock. It has 
yielded an immense amount of bullion in its day, but its surface 
stores have long since been exhausted, mainly through the opera- 
tions in which Mr. Mackay was concerned between 1865 and 
1867, and it was with the money derived from it that the firm was 
enabled, after many shrewd and persistent efforts, to acquire a 
large section of land on that immense deposit of ore — the direct 
Comstock lode. Having now at their command almost unlimited 
capital and credit, they succeeded in opening up the marvellous 
" Consolidated Virginia and California," since known as the " Bo- 
nanza" mines. 

Perhaps a brief description of this district, known under the 
general name of " the Comstock lode," may not be without inter- 
est, as illustrating the source of Mr. Mackay's immense fortune. 
The whole of this region is simply an accumulation of volcanic 
rocks and intervening canons ; these hills arise from the Washoe 
plain to a height above sea-level of nearly eight thousand feet. 
The Comstock lode runs nearly north and south, following the 
trend of the W T ashoe Mountains, within which it lies, and the 
"mining district" is comprised in Storey county, Nevada. This 
remarkable deposit was discovered by two German brothers, 
named Grosch, in 1853. Other prospectors had been there before 
them, but these foreigners were the first to recognize silver in the 
rough ore. Those who preceded them had extracted the gold and 
abandoned all the rest as worthless. One of these brothers died 
from an accident, and the other from the results of exposure on a 
journey from Nevada to California. These brothers, Allan and 
Hosea Grosch, had left their papers, plan of claims, etc., with a 
store-keeper in Carson named H. T. P. Comstock. As there 
were no other claimants, and no opposition was raised, he quietly 



JOHN W. MACKAY. 75 

took possession of their effects, occupied their " claim," and gave 
his name to the richest silver mine in the world. He had learned 
from these Germans the value of the rejected " black stuff," and 
took immediate measures, in connection with one Penrod, to work 
the Grosch lode for all it was worth. He bought some other inter- 
ests in the mines, but afterwards sold all out for a few thousand 
dollars ! Many other claims were made, then and afterwards, in 
the vicinity ; we have a list of forty, varying in size from ten feet 
to two thousand feet. Some idea of the profits of Mr. Mackay's 
investment in the " Consolidated Virginia and California," the 
most valuable property owned on the Comstock lode, may be ar- 
rived at by the following facts : The amount of the bullion pro- 
duced from the lode, approximately estimated, up to 1877 was 
$350,000,000. From 1873 to 1879 the Consolidated Virginia pro- 
duced in gold the value of $28,029,925; in silver, $35,184,316; 
or a total of $63,214,241. In the California there was of gold, 
$50,790,453; of silver, $58,270,576; total, $109,061,029. The 
Virginia was opened three years before the California, but 
later they were worked together. The Consolidated Virginia 
began paying dividends in May, 1875, and up to the close of 1879 
it had paid fifty-one, aggregating the neat little sum of $42,390,- 
000. The California paid its first dividend in May, 1876, and in 
three years paid thirty-four, amounting to $31,320,000. Total 
dividends of both the mines in the above-named period, $73,710,- 
029. 

It is not surprising that by this time Mr. Mackay thought he 
could afford to support a wife, as well as to relieve all the wants 
of his venerated mother. On the 25th of November, 1867, ne 
married the daughter of Colonel Daniel E. Hungerford, of the 
United States Army, and widow of Dr. Thompson, a former part- 
ner of Mr. Mackay's ; they were partners, however, in ill luck, for 
after having made a moderate sum during those days of wander- 
ing and prospecting, they struck a small lead, which promised 
fairly, and Thompson sent to the East for his wife and daughter; 



76 JOHN W. MACKAY. 

the journey was a tedious one then, and by the time Mrs. Thomp- 
son arrived both her husband and Mackay were " dead broke." 
Together these two friends started again to try and retrieve their 
fortunes, and in testing a side hill a large rock was suddenly dis- 
placed, falling on Thompson, and he shortly after died ; he had 
been tenderly cared for by Mackay in these last hours, and was 
conscious of his fate; all his thoughts naturally turned to his wife 
and child, whom he had summoned to this rough and unsettled 
country, and whom he was now about to leave without any means 
for support. Mackay in his rough, generous way promised his 
friend that they should not want — that he would take care of them ; 
and the injured miner died comforted, for he knew he could put 
full trust in the promise of John Mackay. Two years later his 
word was kept more fully than he had originally meant: he mar- 
ried Mrs. Thompson and adopted as his own the little daughter, 
and certainly no lady was ever better adapted to help a man 
spend an enormous fortune, while dispensing the most generous 
hospitality in two hemispheres ; for Mrs. Mackay has resided sev- 
eral years in Paris, where her children are being educated. While 
Mr. Mackay has a permanent home in Virginia City, he runs over 
two or three times a year to see his family. There is probably no 
man who has made a colossal fortune in mining, working up from 
the pick and shovel of the hired laborer, to the very apex of suc- 
cess, that has been so little spoiled by prosperity as John W. 
Mackay. He is still the modest, honest-hearted plain man that 
he was a quarter of a century ago. His liberality is mostly dis- 
pensed in private, among individuals whom he has known in ear- 
lier times, who have failed to secure a share of the riches which 
have accumulated in the few hands of the bonanza kings. That 
his gigantic fortune did not come to him by any sudden stroke of 
luck is best known to those most familiar with the history of the 
Comstock lode. The ground had been known for years before 
his combination took hold of it, and though in some sections pay- 
ing well, had been abandoned for more promising fields by such 



JOHN W. MACKAY. 77 

shrewd and experienced miners as Senator Sharon and others. 
When Mr. Mackay and his partners had secured a controlling in- 
terest in the management, there were many obstacles to be over- 
come and many sore disappointments to be borne ; especially did 
those who had abandoned the lode seek to discourage them. At 
one time the shares were down to two dollars, and some persons 
who had been obliged to accept shares in payment of debts looked 
upon themselves as holding worthless paper. To add to the dis- 
couragement, in October of 1875, a fire, which swept away nearly 
one-half of Virginia City, also destroyed the extensive buildings 
and machinery of the company, stopping all work for a considera- 
ble time. Twelve hundred feet of ground was gone over in pros- 
pecting, at a cost of half a million dollars, before they struck the 
right vein ; what fluctuations of hope and doubt were dug into 
that drift, the owners alone know ; and John Mackay personally 
led that apparently forlorn hope ; and it was by hard work that 
his labor was at last crowned with such amazing success. Let not 
those envy him, who turned their backs upon Virginia City and 
said, " It will not pay." 

Personally Mr. Mackay is a man of herculean form and strength; 
he is in robust health, and it is believed enjoys himself in the free- 
dom from etiquette, in which he indulges at his home in Nevada, 
rather better than surrounded by lackeys and the necessary re- 
straints of the palatial residence he occupies with his family when 
in Paris. Much has been said and written about the ostentatious 
display made at the Mackay mansion ; but no one need attribute 
that to "John:" he has no desire for display, his coach and liveried 
servants are inconspicuous in style and color, and if he spends his 
money freely, why should he not? Some two years ago, when 
about to leave San Francisco for the East, Mr. Mackav was ten- 
dered a public reception by a large number of gentlemen, repre- 
senting not only finance and commerce, but all the liberal profes- 
sions. He is a man thoroughly liked by those who know him best. 

Quite recently Mr. Mackay made a somewhat extended tour on 



7S JOHN W. MACKAY. 

the continent in the company of William J. Florence, the genial 
actor; among other places of interest they visited the Vatican, 
and were received with marked attention by His Holiness Leo 
XIII., who complimented Mr. Mackay upon the charitable deeds 
of his wife and his own; referring particularly to the asylum for 
poor children, which is sustained by the latter in Virginia City. 
Through the courtesy of the pope, who sent an escort with them, 
they were afterwards presented to King Humbert and the Queen 
Margharita. More recently still, Mr. and Mrs. Mackay were very 
graciously received by the Czar and Czarina of Russia during the 
ceremonies of the coronation week. At one court reception, by 
some oversight in the invitations, only eleven ladies were present, 
but eight of these were Americans, and among them Mrs. Mackay, 
who was most kindly distinguished by the Empress. 

" Seeth thou a man diligent in business, he shall stand before 
kings," said a wise man some centuries ago. But no European 
splendor can blind or dazzle the thoroughly democratic eyes of 
the whilom red-shirted miner of Nevada ; Mr. Mackay is entirely 
American in sentiment, and personally indulges in no foreign 
mannerisms. Mrs. Mackay, as is well known, gives the most ex- 
pensive entertainments in Paris; among other American guests, 
having feted General Grant and suite at her house, when the ex- 
President was on his tour around the world. On this occasion, 
wishing to have the Place de L Etoile illuminated in his honor, and 
the municipality of Paris declining to accede to her wish, she 
offered to buy out the whole neighborhood, including the Arc de 
Triomphe, if they would consent to sell it ! Of course they would 
not. To accommodate Mrs. Mackay, the " Silver King" has ar- 
ranged to have a private railway carriage always ready for her 
use; it cost about 150,000 francs, and is a perfect "magic palace 
on wheels;" the cost of maintaining it in running order is 10,000 
francs per annum. Fortunately, Mr. Mackay's heart corresponds 
with the size of his fortune, and both he and his wife have also a 
native feeling of independence, and agree that they do not want 



JOHN W. MACKAY. 79 

any titled son-in-law; the object of such unwise desire on the part 
of many American millionaires. Mr. Mackay's family have no 
need to deny themselves any fancied luxury, for it is simply im- 
possible for them to spend their income. Mrs. Mackay's dia- 
monds, sapphires, pearls and other gems, aggregate in value more 
than those possessed by any sovereign in Europe; but with all 
her love of brilliant gems she has not lost her feeling for the trou- 
bles of others. Having bought many of the jewels formerly be- 
longing to Madam Maria Blanc, the owner of Monaco's famous 
gaming house, many of which had been lost in heavy play, one of 
these was recognized by a guest of Mrs. Mackay's as having 
once belonged to herself, and touching a secret spring the lady 
disclosed to the surprise of her hostess the likeness of a beautiful 
child — her own. Mrs. Mackay immediately insisted upon her 
taking the brooch, expressing herself pained that she should ever 
have been deprived of it in such an ignoble way — the lady's hus- 
band having lost it in gaming. Mrs. Mackay is a liberal patron- 
ess of art and artists. Meissonier has recently completed a full- 
length likeness of her which he is said to have declared to be his 
chef d'ouvre in portraiture. Mrs. Mackay's opinion of this portrait 
differed materially from that of the artist, and it is said that she 
destroyed the canvas. The unfortunate affair caused much discus- 
sion in Paris and elsewhere, friends of the artist and the lady enter- 
ing warmly into the controversy. The model is represented three- 
quarters length, in a costume of black satin, the body of which is 
covered with heavy and close gimp and bead embroidery ; a large 
black Gainsborough hat tilted over the right shoulder, and fes- 
tooned with lace in the Spanish style ; a brown plush mantle, bor- 
dered with fur, is thrown loosely over the right shoulder, leaving 
the left shoulder and arm visible, and the model looks straight out 
of the frame as she draws on her left hand a long, yellow mousque- 
taire glove. For this likeness she paid 70,000 francs. Another 
French artist, M. Cabanel, has painted a lovely portrait of Mrs. 
Mackay's daughter, a serious, brown-haired and brown-eyed little 



80 JOHN W. MACKAY. 

maiden, in a white dress, on a delicate blue background. This 
artist has also painted Mr. Mackay, whose portrait is that of a 
sandy-haired and indifferently dressed gentleman with a deter- 
mined air. All these portraits, together with that of another mem- 
ber of Mr. Mackay's family, were on exhibition at the Exposition 
Nationale this year. 

Meissonier lately gave a soiree in his studio for the benefit of 
an American photographer, in whom the Mackays take an inter- 
est. This is M. Muybridge, who has taken many scenes in Cali- 
fornia, in the wildest parts of that strange land, and in the early 
times — scenes which can never again be reproduced. 

Mrs. Mackay has a summer cottage at Trouville in France, on 
the coast. It would almost exceed belief to describe the cost of 
the table-service — one full tea-set of solid gold, the finest porcelain, 
amber, coral, and precious stones used in decorations ; crystal 
plates set with gems, and wine served in silver, gold, and enameled 
flagons, elaborately wrought — each article a precious specimen of 
the engraver's or decorator's art. Mr. Mackay is also in his way 
a patron of art; among the pictures lately sold to him by the Mar- 
quis of Lansdowne is the famous "Rembrandt portrait," purchased 
by an ancestor of the marquis, and which has always been re- 
garded as one of the choicest gems in the Bowood gallery. 
$25,000 was the price paid for it. He also owns some fine trotters, 
but he is not distinguished as a sportsman. 

Nearly every spring, for several years back, the report is circu- 
lated " that the Mackays are coming to New York to live ; " thus 
far it has proved to be without foundation. Mrs. Mackay evidently 
finds Paris congenial to her tastes, and " John " comes and goes 
at his pleasure, and may sometimes be seen in Virginia City taking 
his ease in his shirt sleeves, his trousers tucked into his boots, and 
a broad-brimmed felt hat, as in the old mining days. A friend 
of the Mackays, disgusted with the constant criticism which their 
lavish expenditure of money naturally draws upon them, in the 
press and society, says, in a printed communication, and speaking 



JOHN W. MACKAY. 8 1 

from personal knowledge of Mrs. Mackay : " Instead of words of 
contempt and ridicule, the kindest and the best that her country- 
men could say of her would scarcely equal her desert. She needs 
no champion, her deeds speak for her ; the poor, and the needy, 
and the suffering bless her, and if it were necessary, there are 
thousands who would bear the same testimony which I now give." 
Mr. Mackay, it is reported, has recently promised President Cham- 
berlain, of Bowdoin College in Maine, to endow a $50,000 profes- 
sorship in that institution. He is recognized by all who know him 
as one of those least spoiled by the possession of a fortune too 
large to spend. He has not forgotten the friends of his working 
days, and were any of these in need they would not fear a rebuff 
if they showed their empty palms to the great bonanza king. Yet 
what will become of these fabulous fortunes? Will the next half 
century see them dissipated in thin air, and the descendants of the 
millionaires ready to begin the re-accumulation again ? 

In August, 1883, Mr. Mackay accepted the presidency of the 
Postal Telegraph Company, a new association formed in New York, 
which may possibly become a rival of the "Western Union." The 
amount of stock which it is proposed to issue, to commence with, 
is $21,000,000. Mr. Mackay took up $12,000,000 of the stock, 
thus obtaining the supreme control. A conference has already 
been held with the manager of the American Rapid Company, with 
a view T to forming a combination. Since it is not likely that the 
bonanza king desires to add to his wealth, it has been suggested 
that this new position has been accepted by him with a view to 
forming pleasant associations in the social circles of New York; 
his time having hitherto been much broken up by his constant 
journeys across the continent and the Atlantic, with no permanent 
applications in the metropolis of the country, such as this presi- 
dency will assure him. At the present writing the Postal Tele- 
graph Company has but one wire in operation — from New York 
to Chicago, but its ambition embraces the continent. Mr. Mackay's 
name is a tower of strength financially, and this enterprise may 
yet add millions to the $50,000,000 accredited to him. 
6 



(/ 



GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 



George William Childs was born in Baltimore in 1829. When 
only ten years old, he worked as an errand-boy for a bookseller 
during the vacations of his school in the summer months. At 
thirteen years of age he entered the United States Navy, in which 
service he remained for fifteen months. After leaving the navy 
he removed from Baltimore to Philadelphia, with no capital except 
his integrity and talents, and began his typical career as a shop- 
boy in a book-store. After four years of this apprenticeship to 
books and letters, he opened a small store of his own in the old 
Ledger building, at Third and Chestnut streets. Even at this 
early date, when a mere lad, without capital or any visible certainty 
for the future, he formed within himself a resolution to become 
one day the proprietor of the Public Ledger. He made no secret 
of his ambition, but said frequently to his familiar friends : " If I 
live I will become the owner of the Public Ledger!' One distin- 
guished literary man to whom he said this nine years before it 
came to pass, was the late Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie. A career 
begun with such resolution reminds one of Benjamin Franklin, or 
to go farther back, of the famous Dick Whittington, "Lord Mayor 
of London," except that Whittington once turned back discour- 
aged, whereas G. W. Childs needed no voice to bid " turn again," 
because he never wavered, never halted, and never doubted of 
his ultimate success. Before he had reached the age of twenty- 
one, he became a member of the Philadelphia publishing firm 
which afterward did so large a business under the firm-name of 
Childs & Peterson. The head of the old firm of R. E. Peterson 
& Co. discerned his great business capacity and sought his alliance. 
Mr. Childs was of especial value for his insight into the public 
(82) 




GEORGE W. CHILDS. 



GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 8$ 

taste, and his judgment as to the works which it would surely pay 
to publish was never at fault. Among the works published by the 
firm under his discretion were " Peterson's Familiar Science," by 
his partner, which reached a circulation of 200,000 copies, " Kane's 
Arctic Explorations," for which the firm paid the author $70,000, 
and Allibone's " Dictionary of English and American Authors," a 
work of immense labor and research, which the author dedicated 
in grateful terms to Mr. Childs. While publishing books, he never 
forgot his ambitious purpose. 

The Public Ledger was started as a penny paper in 1836. The 
first number appeared on the 25th of March, Lady day, of that 
year. It was a little sheet of fifteen by thirteen inches in size. For 
a quarter of a century its price remained the same as at the start. 
But the war came, and the price of everything was doubled, and 
as the material and the cost of living rose, so in the same ratio did 
the price of labor. It could only be published for a penny at a 
heavy loss to the publishers. Moreover, of the three original pro- 
prietors, one was dead, the second was interested chiefly in another 
enterprise, and the third was discouraged. He might well be so 
when the loss on each number issued was $480, and each week 
$3,000. So the Public Ledger was offered for sale. It required 
great faith and enterprise to stake one's capital, "and win or lose 
it all," upon a newspaper that was losing $150,000 dollars a year. 
But Mr. Childs was a man of destiny, and the hour of prophetic 
fulfilment had come. In vain did all his business friends endeavor 
to dissuade him. He bought the paper for a sum a little in excess 
of the annual loss. 

The purchase was completed on December 5th, 1864. Within 
a week the new proprietor announced two necessary changes. 
The price of the paper was doubled and the advertising rate in- 
creased to meet the universal rise of values. At the end of a 
month, however, he encouraged additional subscribers and satisfied 
old ones, by making the cost of the Ledger ten cents per week. 
This was sound policy, and at once increased the circulation. 



84 GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 

There is a tide in the affairs of newspapers, as of men, " which 
taken at the flood leads on to fortune." Mr. Childs had bought 
the Ledger in " the nick of time," as the saying is. To hesitate is 
to be lost in completing such purchases, but still more frequently 
it is loss to make them. Not one man in a thousand would ever 
run a newspaper successfully. One man, in his egotism, fancies 
that all the world must think upon all subjects as he does, and 
cannot conceive the possibility of his own judgment being fallible. 
Such a man is sure to fail. Other men there are who fancy that 
their own individuality and not the public interests are what their 
newspaper should pay most attention to. They too are sure to 
come to grief. Others, again, are wholly or partially wanting in the. 
foresight, judgment, decisive action and administrative prudence 
necessary to the safe conduct of the daily paper. Others are as 
men "driven by the wind and tossed," who contradict in to-day's 
issue the opinion they put forth yesterday. The public see in the 
self-stultifying oracle a house divided against itself which cannot 
stand. The stewards fit for such a trust are "few and far between." 
Not one in a thousand, even of men otherwise shrewd and intelli- 
gent, is " sufficient for these things." Mr. Childs is one of the rare 
exceptions to the general incapacity for conducting a good and 
paying newspaper. Even of the great editors in this country not one 
in twenty could manage the business affairs of the paper he edits 
successfully. Mr. Childs has made the Ledger a welcome guest 
in every home in Philadelphia by rigorously excluding from its 
columns everything that sullies purity of mind or attacks personal 
reputations. 

On June 20th, 1867, the Philadelphia Public Ledger took pos- 
session of its new building on the southwest corner of Sixth and 
Chestnut streets, which Mr. Childs had especially built for it, at a 
cost of half a million of dollars. This magnificent edifice, one of 
the finest in Philadelphia, was formally opened on the 20th of 
June, 1867, amid a great assemblage of representatives of all profes- 
sions and callings. Three objects were impressed by Mr. Childs 



GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 85 

upon Mr. J. McArthur, Jr., the architect, and Mr. R. J. Dobbins, 
the builder. First, to build a printing-office that would be as 
thoroughly adapted to its purpose as could possibly be built, irre- 
spective of cost ; second, to make it a comfortable, cheerful and 
healthy office for printers to work in ; and, thirdly, to make it a 
monument of newspaper enterprise and an ornament to the city of 
Philadelphia. The opening was followed by a banquet at the 
Continental Hotel, at which speeches were made by Mayor Mc- 
Michael, the Hon. Joseph R. Chandler, LL.D., the oldest editor 
present ; Mayor Hoffman, of New York ; General Meade, General 
Robeson, of New Jersey ; Hon. James Brooks, of New York ; 
J. J. Stewart, of Maryland; Paul B. Du Chaillu, the African 
explorer, Hon. William D. Kelley, Rev. Dr. John Hall, then of 
Dublin, now of Fifth avenue, New York ; General Hiram Wal- 
bridge, of New York ; George H. Stuart, of Philadelphia, and 
William V. McKean, of the Ledger. Mr. Stewart, of Maryland, who 
proposed the health of Mr. Childs, recalled, in the course of his 
remarks, that when he and Mr. Childs were boys, the latter had 
written to him that he meant to prove that a man could be both 
liberal and successful at the same time. 

The Public Ledger, however, has not absorbed Mr. Childs' enter- 
prise to the exclusion of other objects. In connection with his al- 
most life-long friend, Anthony J. Drexel, the great banker, at Wayne, 
on the Pennsylvania Railroad line, they have founded a city analo- 
gous to that of the late A. T. Stewart at Garden City. Purchasing 
six hundred acres of land at Wayne Station for $240,000, they 
have divided the land into building-lots, of about an acre each, for 
the erection of cottages on improved principles of art, ranging in 
price from $2,000 to $8,000. The scheme is to dispose of the 
houses and lots upon payment of one-third of the cost, Messrs. 
Childs and Drexel advancing two-thirds, thus affording to persons 
in moderate circumstances an opportunity of securing suburban 
residences upon reasonable terms. From a score of novel designs 
prepared by their architects the purchaser makes his selection. 



&6 GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 

Upon the landscape gardening the firm have expended $ 100,000, 
upon the water supply over $50,000, and upon the general im- 
provements of the new town $1,500,000 has been set apart by 
them. The distance of Wayne from Philadelphia is thirteen miles, 
and within two minutes' walk of the new station Mr. Childs has 
built the Bellevue Hotel, a Queen Anne structure with porches on 
every side which rise in tiers to the fourth floor. 

Mr. Childs has been a great collector of rare and costly books, 
clocks, and articles of virtu. He has the writing-desk on which 
Lord Byron wrote " Don Juan " and others of his poems. His 
private office in the Ledger building partakes both of the Eliza- 
bethan and the Queen Anne style of decoration, having a large, 
open fire-place, which with the mantel-piece is exceedingly wel- 
come to the eye from the sense of comfort it inspires as well as 
the exquisite beauty of its ornamentation. Heavily embossed 
paper, in imitation of Flemish stamped leather, covers the walls 
above the wainscoting, and the floor is of many-colored tiles. 
But what attracts the attention of the visitor chiefly is the number 
and magnificence of the 'clocks which he sees on every side of the 
apartment. Chimes and sonorous reverberations in many tones 
proclaim the flight of time from many of these time-pieces. On 
Mr. Childs' writing-desk stand three small clocks of curious work- 
manship, while above them, on the top, is a clock one foot high 
and ten inches broad, made with a lapis lazuli case worth more 
than its weight in solid gold. This is the most costly article in the 
room. Over the fire-place is a basso-relievo wherein a winged 
cupid is depicted bearing an hour-glass, while on the mantel above 
is a marble and bronze French clock, of beautiful design and ex- 
quisite finish, the works of which are so fine that it does not vary 
one minute in a year. It has a perpetual calendar attachment and 
cost more than $800. On either side of the mantel, under life- 
size pictures of Messrs. Childs and Drexel, are two clocks that 
mark two distinct periods of French history. One has a case of 
tortoise-shell, inlaid with bronze scroll-work, such as was the 



GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 8 J 

fashion in the time of Louis Quatorze ; the other is in the Rococo 
style of the time of Henri Quatre. The bronze case, nearly three 
feet high, is profusely decorated in the style of the renaissance of 
Italian architecture. Above a large ebony cabinet, filled with 
curios, stands an antique English clock, with a square ebony case. 
It is very plain and very old, the seconds being measured by a verge 
escapement, which was supplanted more than two hundred years 
ago by the pendulum. Another clock on the walls of Mr. Childs' 
office has a case of malachite ornamented with bron2e. This is 
Russian work. It stands on a bracket of bronze and malachite 
made in America to Mr. Childs' order. 

Beside all these, there are three hall clocks in the room, which 
Mr. Childs values highly. One, "The Convent Clock," as he calls 
it, came from an Austrian cloister, and is over 200 years old. 
Another, the " Klingenburg Clock," so named after its maker, John 
Klingenburg, of Amsterdam, was a present to Mr. Childs from 
General Grant, and is of great value. But more precious than 
both of these is the " Rittenhouse Clock," the workmanship of 
which excels any other clock in America. David Rittenhouse, a 
famous Philadelphian, after whom Rittenhouse Square was named, 
made this clock for Joseph Potts in 1767, and was paid $640 for it 
then, which would equal about $2,000 to-day, considering the 
increase of values. Lord Howe, during the British occupation of 
Philadelphia, offered 125 guineas for it. At a later date, a Span- 
ish minister wishing to make a valuable present to his sovereign, 
offered $800 for it. It was purchased by Mr. Childs of the Barton 
family in October, 1879. The intricacy of its mechanism is really 
marvellous considering its age. It contains seventy-two wheels, 
with 5,685 teeth. It is worked by three weights, aggregating 100 
pounds. It has a musical attachment, and a limited planetarium 
in miniature. On its face are six dials. The centre dial has four 
hands, indicating seconds, minutes, hours and days, the last being 
so set as to run perpetually, with due allowance to leap year. It 
also shows the phases of the moon. The second dial represents 



88 GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 

accurately the movement of Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and 
the earth around the sun, each of the planets being represented by 
a small gold ball. The rim of the dial is marked with the signs 
of the zodiac. The dial in the upper left-hand corner describes 
the moon's phases in its course around the earth. The lower left- 
hand corner dial shows Saturn slowly crawling along its twenty- 
nine-year course around the sun. Another astronomical feature 
of this clock is its sun-dial, which shows sun time, fast or slow, in 
comparison with mean meridian time. The movement of this dial 
is extremely intricate and rare ; the sixth dial reveals a combina- 
tion of chimes, which play at every quarter, half, and full hour ; a 
hand is turned to one of ten numbers, and when the quarter point 
is reached, a peal of choral music is heard, lasting for a minute. A 
gentle push on a little knob on the dial procures a repetition, and 
the twenty tiny bells gush out their melodies. 

It is said that $30,000 would not cover the cost of Mr. Childs' 
collection of clocks, including those at his residence on Twenty- 
second and Walnut streets, and his country residences at Wootten 
and Long Branch. In the library of his Philadelphia mansion is a 
clock that belonged to Prince Napoleon ; while in the parlor, be- 
tween the two front windows, stands the most costly parlor clock 
perhaps to be found in the world. It weighs two tons, and stands 
nine feet high, onyx and verde antique, forming a base two feet 
square and four feet high. On this pedestal poses a life-size 
figure in silver of a woman, her raised arm poising a circular pen- 
dulum, which works the machinery in the base. This clock has 
quite a history. It won the grand prize at the Paris Exhibition of 
1867, when Le Grand Lockwood bought it, after a sharp bidding 
against the agent of the Emperor of Russia, and removed it to 
his palatial home in Norwalk, Connecticut, where it remained until 
his estate being squandered, it fell with all else beneath the ham- 
mer of the auctioneer. Mr. Childs started the bids at $1,000; an 
agent of A. T. Stewart bid $2,000 ; Mr. Childs bid $3,000 ; Stew- 
art's man bid $4,000, and the clock was knocked down to Mr. 
Childs at $6,000. 



GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 89 

The central window of this office contains a copy of the superb 
Milton shield, by Elkington, of London, supported on an easel 
made of two pikes, and a partisan from originals in the museum 
of the Louvre. There is also a fine statuette of Savonarola, and 
in the southern window a statuette of Piccarda De Donati. In the 
southwest part of the room, erected upon a pedestal, is a complete 
suit of French armor. Beautiful furniture, carpet, gas-fixtures, etc., 
and an array of costly presents from friends and corporations, 
make Mr. Quids' office at the Ledger a veritable and picturesque 
sanctum. 

Even more than his private office at the Ledger does his library 
at his private residence in Philadelphia require a notice. In 
addition to 20,000 autographs and letters, the library comprises 
5,000 of the most valuable books, and the original manuscripts 
of a sermon by Cotton Mather, Dickens' " Our Mutual Friend,'' 
part of one of Frederick Schiller's dramas, original letters of 
Samuel Pepys, Dr. Johnson, David Hume, Edmund Burke, 
Cowper, Boswell, Lord Eldon, George Canning, Sir James 
Mackintosh, Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, Robert 
Burns, S. T. Coleridge, Southey, Lord Brougham, Macaulay, 
Hazlitt, Samuel Rogers, Rosene, Byron, Keats, Shelley, Leigh 
Hunt, Charles Lamb, Tennyson, Thackeray, Maria Edgeworth, 
Mary Russell Mitford, Letitia Landon, Eliza Cook, Lord Hough- 
ton, G. P. R. James, and many others. Mr. Childs is not merely 
a student and lover of books, but a lover of authors also. When 
Mr. S. C. Hall desired, several years ago, to place a monument 
over the remains of Leigh Hunt, in Kensal Green cemetery, 
Mr. Childs offered to bear the whole expense. Only a liberal 
contribution, however, was accepted from him. But, at his sole 
cost, with the consent of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, 
Mr. Childs placed a beautiful stained glass window in the vener- 
able Abbey, in commemoration of the two Christian poets, George 
Herbert and William Cowper. The late Dean Stanley, preaching 
in Philadelphia, on his last visit shortly before his death, said: 



90 GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 

"There is in Westminster Abbey a window dear to American 
hearts, because erected by an honored citizen of Philadelphia." 
Mr. Childs was also the largest subscriber to the fund for placing 
a memorial window to Tom Moore in the parish church at Burn- 
ham, England. 

The princely hospitality of Mr. Childs, as well as his noble 
benevolence, are known to all Americans, and to the many eminent 
travellers from foreign lands who have been his guests. Dinners 
to newsboys, banquets to the many hundreds of men and women 
in his employ, policies of life insurance given by him to their wives 
and children, as a security against the unknown hour of death, and 
even a cemetery-lot presented by him to the Philadelphia Typo- 
graphical Society, tell the deeds and feelings of this public-spirited 
capitalist. Well might his employes thank him for his innumerable 
acts of generosity and courtesy, for his uniform justice, a justice 
always tempered with mercy, as well as for the palace he built for 
them to work in. At the dedication of the printers' burial-lot, the 
late chief-justice of Pennsylvania, who had himself begun life as a 
printer, said with as much truth as eloquence : " Some men pursue 
military glory, and expend their time and energies in the subju- 
gation of nations. Caesar and Napoleon I. may be named as 
types of this character. But the blood and tears which follow 
violence and wrong, maculate the pages of history on which their 
glory is recorded. Others erect splendid palaces for kingly resi- 
dences, and costly temples and edifices for the promotion of 
education and religion, in accordance with their particular views. 
But views of education and religion change, buildings waste away, 
and whole cities, like Herculaneum and Pompeii are buried in 
the earth. Others, again, win public regard by the construction 
of means of communication for the furtherance of commerce. The 
canals, railroads, and telegraphs are glorious specimens of their 
useful exertions for the public good. But the marts of commerce 
change. Tyre and Sidon, and Venice are no longer commercial 
centres. The shores of the Pacific are even now starting in a 



GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 9 1 

race against the great commercial emporium of our continent. 
But Mr. Childs has planted himself in the human heart, and he 
will have his habitation there while man shall live upon earth. 
He has laid the foundation of his monument upon universal 
benevolence. Its superstructure is composed of good and noble 
deeds. Its spire is the love of God, which ascends to heaven. 
Such a monument is indeed 

"'A pyramid so wide and high 
That Cheops stands in envy by.' 

i 

" I have not enumerated the numerous private charities of Mr. 
Childs. The magnificent building which he erected for the Ledger 
at a cost of half a million of dollars, as a newspaper establish- 
ment, is unparalleled in the world ; and he could not erect this 
building without providing that the press-room, composing-room 
and reporters' room, and every other room where his employes 
were engaged, should be carefully warmed, ventilated and lighted, 
so that they should be comfortable in their employment, and 
enjoy good health in their industry. Even the outside corners of 
his splendid building could not be constructed without bringing to 
the large heart of Mr. Childs the wants of the weary wayfarer on 
a hot summer day. Therefore it was that each corner is provided 
with a marble fountain, to furnish a cup of cold water to every 
one who is thirsty. Mr. Childs provides for the health of the 
employes during life. He has introduced bath-rooms into vari- 
ous parts of the building for the use of the workingmen, who avail 
themselves freely of the privilege afforded them. He secures an 
insurance on their lives for the benefit of their families after death, 
and even then he does not desert them ; he provides a beautiful 
and magnificent burial-lot for the repose of their lifeless bodies. 
Such a man surely deserves the love and gratitude of his fellow- 
creatures on earth, and the blessings of his Creator in the world 
to come." 

But if no private charities or public acts of philanthropy had 



92 GEORGE WILLIAM CHILDS. 

made the name of George William Childs familiar to every Chris- 
tian household in the world, the unique fact that he has, contrary 
to all the calculations of worldly financiers and the predictions of 
worldly reasoners, shown the possibility of making a daily news- 
paper both pure in its morality and immense in its circulation, 
would place him among the greatest of the successful men of the 
age. There is not a line in the Ledger which could bring a blush 
to the cheek of female purity or set the mind of a child upon the 
track of pernicious inquiry. Every morning as the sun rises upon 
the good old city of Philadelphia, it is a cheering reflection to 
those who love things " pure and honest, and of good report," to 
know that in almost every home, and in almost every hand, and 
read by almost every eye in that vast community is a newspaper 
which carries not pollution but purity and healing with it, as it 
disseminates the news from every quarter of the globe. 




, ■fill! 




PETER COOPER. 



PETER COOPER. 

The name of Peter Cooper has been spread abroad as widely as 
the knowledge of philanthropic deeds can be conveyed, through 
the aid of steam and electricity ; two elements with which he was 
personally identified. Commencing life with as little prospect 
of "achieving greatness" as any youth in the small city of New 
York in the year 1791, he gradually worked his way up to the 
very best kind of eminence — the eminence of a model life from 
childhood to old age, without a serious flaw of any kind ; wealth 
attained by solid work, industry and integrity, and expended in 
the effort to benefit and elevate, intellectually and morally, his 
fellow-men. Such lives are rare everywhere, and particularly 
praiseworthy when all this has been accomplished in spite of un- 
toward circumstances ; not only without the natural aid of parent 
or special friends, but with the drag anchor of an impecunious 
father, whose needs were for many years always ready to absorb 
all the money that the lad Peter could earn by the most laborious 
kind of work. Without education, too : all the schooling little 
Peter received was between his seventh and eighth year, when he 
went on alternate days to school, a brother going to fill his place 
on the other school-days. This was equivalent to about two 
quarters schooling, and that before he was eight years old ! 

The father of Peter Cooper was not without a certain kind of 
capacity; he could do many things, but he was "unstable as water," 
and therefore could never succeed thoroughly well in anything he 
undertook, and his restless nature would not permit him to rest 
even when the prospect brightened ; then his hopes grew larger 
than the possibilities of the case, and he must leave a certainty to 
strike out for something new. The elder Cooper was twice 

(93) 



94 PETER COOPER. 

married, but the second wife, the mother of Peter, had a hard time 
following the wanderings of her husband; she belonged to a very- 
respectable family named Campbell ; her father, John Campbell, 
was in the revolutionary army as deputy quartermaster-general, 
and had greatly reduced his fortune in the service of his country ; 
he was subsequently an alderman in the city of New York ; his 
daughter, Mrs. Cooper, had been educated among the Moravians 
of Pennsylvania, and was fully capable of assisting in the educa- 
tion of Peter, had not eight other children, constant household 
cares and continued changes of residence, absorbed all her time 
and strength ; yet doubtless she took some occasions to supple- 
ment the very limited opportunities of her son, who bore the 
distinction in the family of being named in honor of the Apostle 
Peter; the father having had in a dream or vision, as he thought, 
some supernatural indication that the child should be so named ; 
the natural conclusion being that he would "come to something." 
Perhaps the mother " hid these things in her heart," as another 
mother once did centuries before, and watched over the little Peter 
with what special love and care the circumstances afforded — let us 
hope so at least, for the father seems to have forgotten his vision. 
The elder Cooper had been in the army and had attained the rank 
of lieutenant, but at the time his son Peter was born he was resid- 
ing in Little Dock street — since incorporated with and called Water 
street. Here he kept a small hat-store, making the hats himself. 

When Peter was three years old the family removed "away up- 
town," to the corner of Broadway and Duane street — then called 
Varley street. Here little Peter commenced to work, when only 
eight years old, being regularly employed in the workroom cutting 
the fur off of some skins, and pulling the hair off of rabbit skins, 
to help form the pulp of which the hats were made ; the other 
children of the family who were old enough (Peter was the fifth) 
being also employed in the business. Here the hat-making pros- 
pered fairly well, but Mr. Cooper was not content: he wanted to 
get into the country. Peekskill, on the Hudson, was then much 



FETER COOPER. 95 

it was thought to be a very growing place, so one fine 
morning Mr. Cooper sold out the business on Broadway to his 
eldest son — Peter's half-brother, and removed to Peekskill, buying 
out a place there, but not having sufficient cash, gave his note for 
;£ioo, a very large indebtedness for a man in his circumstances. 
Here he started a hat factory and also opened a country store, 
both of which were tolerably successful for a time. 

When Peter was seventeen he decided to take his future 
into his own hands, and came alone to New York to seek for an 
opportunity. His main thought then was to start a brewery in 
which he would make stronger and better ale than any other 
manufacturer, believing Americans would rather pay more for a 
superior article. But he could find no one to advance the neces- 
sary capital, and not having either the means or the desire to re- 
main in the city unemployed, he within a few days apprenticed 
himself to a coachmaker to learn the business. He agreed to 
remain with Messrs. Burtis & Woodward, whose shop was located 
on the northeast corner of Broadway and Chamber street, the 
site of A. T. Stewart's down-town store, for four years, receiving 
as compensation only his board and $25 a year with which to buy 
clothes. And he thought he had made a good bargain. In one 
sense he was much better off than if he had remained with his 
father in Newburg; at home his work was never done; here, at 
least after his regular hours of labor, he was free to use his time 
as he chose. 

How he stood in the estimation of his employers may be judged 
from the fact, that at the close of his apprenticeship they not only 
expressed their satisfaction with the amount and quality of the 
work he had done for them, but offered to build him a shop and 
start him in the same business, giving him his own time in which 
to repay the outlay. Few young men would have been able to 
resist such a flattering offer; but Peter Cooper had seen too much 
of the miserable slavery of the debtor to care to burden his young 
life with so great an obligation. Thanking them for their kindness, 



96 PETER COOPER. 

he bade them farewell, and, with his wardrobe in a bundle and a 
small sum in his pocket, he started off to Hempstead, Long Island, 
where he had an older brother ; not very clear in his mind what he 
should do, but not particularly caring to continue coach-making. 
He was not limited to that. He could make hats, beer and bricks 
as well as coaches, and the world was all before him. It is certain 
he would not remain idle long. In Hempstead he found a man who 
was engaged in making machines for shearing cloth, then a con- 
siderable industry in the State of New York, much wool being 
raised and home-spun cloth being made here. With this party he 
engaged to go to work at $1.50 a day, which was then considered 
high wages. Here he continued for three years, during which 
time he married, his wife being Miss Sarah Bedel, of Hempstead. 
This was in 181 3, and Peter Cooper was just twenty-two years of 
age. This was a step that he never had cause to regret ; indeed, 
he was very free to admit that to her good counsels, sympathy 
and encouragement he attributed much of his great success in 
after life ; " she was," he was accustomed to say, " the day-star, 
the solace and inspiration of my life." Mr. and Mrs. Cooper 
lived together thus happily fifty-six years, she dying on the anni- 
versary of her wedding-day, in the seventy-seventh year of her 
age, in December, 1869. Having been long attendants on the 
ministry of the late Dr. Bellows, the veteran pastor of the Uni- 
tarian church in Fourth avenue, the latter said on the occasion 
of her funeral sermon : " It was impossible to be false, artificial, 
pretentious in her sincere and simple presence ; and how full 
and steady and strong the love she gave and drew towards her! 
To-day, the fifty-sixth anniversary of her wedding, her honored 
husband could testify that age had done nothing to the last to 
weaken the fervor ; nay, hardly to diminish the romance of the 
union, which has been blessed with unbroken peace, with unin- 
terrupted confidence, with steady delight in each other's com- 
panionship." It is certainly pleasant to know that in the happy 
conditions of his married life Mr. Cooper received some compen- 



PETER COOPER. 



97 



sation for the defrauded childhood, the poor and meagre boy- 
hood, the laborious cares of his early youth. 

Peter Cooper had already made many changes of occupation, 
as his father had done, but there was an essential difference 
between them ; the elder Cooper left a fairly good business for 
another without sufficient reason, and continued in a failing busi- 
ness long after he should have quit. Peter continued in whatever 
he was engaged in as long as it paid ; when it showed symptoms 
of becoming unremunerative, he promptly turned his attention to 
something else. Not foreseeing the failure of the machine busi- 
ness when he settled in Hempstead, he had bought a house and 
lot, expecting to make that his permanent home ; when the demand 
ceased he opened a store for the sale of cabinet furniture ; made 
and sold that for a year; then concluded to return to New York; 
sold out his house, shop and land and opened a grocery-store on 
the corner of Rivington street and the Bowery. The next year 
he bought out an unexpired lease, for nineteen years, on several 
lots of land, on part of which the Bible House now stands, on the 
old Boston road 3 or Third avenue ; there were some frame-houses 
upon it, and he removed his grocery-store into one of these and 
let the others at good rents. At this time there was a glue manu- 
factory for sale on the old Middle road, or Fourth avenue ; it had 
never been very profitable to the proprietor, but Peter Cooper 
thought he could manage it better. He bought it out for $2,000 
cash down, with a lease of twenty-one years, with all the stock and 
fixtures. The most of the glue then used in this country (1821) 
was imported from Ireland ; but no sooner had Mr. Cooper taken 
hold of the concern than he immensely improved the quality and 
reduced the price two-thirds below that of the imported article, so 
that he soon commanded the entire domestic trade. By degrees 
he added the manufacture of other articles, as whiting, prepared 
chalk, isinglass, oil, etc., very successfully competing with either 
foreign or native producers. In the one article of isinglass he 
realized immense profits. Previous to his time that article had beeii 
7 



/ 



gS PETER COOPER. 

almost exclusively imported from Russia, and was sold at four dol- 
lars a pound ; Mr. Cooper was able to sell the best quality at 
seventy-five cents a pound, and, it is needless to say, drove the 
former out of the market. He obtained much of his material for 
making glue from Henry Astor's butcher shop in the Bowery. 
Henry Astor was brother of the late John Jacob. The factory was 
continued on the original site until the expiration of the lease ; 
when Mr. Cooper bought some ten or twelve acres of land in 
Maspeth, Long Island, where he built a large factory, employing 
many hands. For many years he had run the factory in New 
York with very little help. He was at his business early and 
late, lighting his own fires, laying out the work, keeping his own 
books ; then driving down town to his office in Burling slip, 
and making sales per sample, he was at little expense, and, 
before he was forty years old, was a rich man, as riches were 
counted in those days. The factory at Maspeth was burned down 
only one year after its erection, the loss being estimated at $40,- 
000, and was not insured. Not an instant was lost in clearing the 
ground and rebuilding on an enlarged and improved scale ; and 
this building still stands, with later additions, the work being still 
carried on by Mr. Cooper's successors. 

Peter Cooper, up to the time that he established this business, 
which was the foundation of his large fortune, had never lost any- 
thing in all his changes of occupation — nine in six years ! he had 
made all pay, each one better than the last. His first absolute 
loss was through the fire, but he was then in a position not to be 
crippled by such an accident. He was, though a very "mild- 
mannered gentleman," not often imposed upon in business trans- 
actions. The nearest to such an adventure happened about 1828, 
when two plausible speculators induced him to go into the pur- 
chase of a large tract of land in Baltimore; there were 3,000 
acres, within the city limits, and lying along the shore a distance 
of three miles, starting from Fells' Point dock. Having paid his 
portion of the purchase-money, $150,000, he found the two impe- 



PETER COOPER. 99 

cunious gentlemen could not raise theirs, and not wishing compli- 
cations with them, he gave them $10,000 to withdraw their claims, 
with which plunder they took themselves off, well satisfied. This 
land at first proved to be something of a " white elephant " in Mr. 
Cooper's hands. The land-boom had been started under a false 
impression that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was an assured 
success, and would be very early completed ; this was very far 
from being the case. This road was started under peculiar con- 
ditions, the incorporators having put out five dollar shares, with the 
idea of popularizing it. But the engineers encountered many diffi- 
culties, and at the end of the first year it was found that the con- 
struction expenses had increased beyond the value of the subscrip- 
tion list. Formidable obstacles, in the shape of steep grades and 
sharp curves, had discouraged both engineers and stockholders; 
many of the most sanguine had begun to fear that the road would 
never be completed, and that no locomotive could be made to turn 
those sharp curves safely. 

Now the value of Mr. Cooper's land depended almost entirely 
upon the completion of this road, so he made it his first business 
to convince the directors that their fears were groundless, and he 
did this in the most practical way possible. Always of an inventive 
turn of mind, he now applied all his energies to the construction 
of an engine which should overcome the difficulties. This he 
accomplished entirely on his own plan, and at his own expense. 
To be sure, it was a small affair compared with one of the modern 
locomotives of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, but it was only 
meant to exhibit the principle upon which others should be built. 
The whole affair did not weigh perhaps over a ton, with wheels 
about two feet in diameter, with cylinders of three and a half 
inches; the boiler, instead of lying horizontal, was placed vertically, 
and was about the size of those now attached to kitchen ranges. 
When all was ready, Mr. Cooper persuaded thirty-six stockholders, 
including the Mayor of Baltimore, to get into an open box-car to 
make a trial trip; six other persons were packed upon the engine, 



IOO PETER COOPER. 

which also carried wood and water. The only completed portion 
of the road was from Point of Rocks, Baltimore, to Ellicott's mills, 
a distance of thirteen miles. Mr. Cooper acted as engineer, and 
the outward trip was made in one hour and twelve minutes. Mr. 
Cooper had solved the problem — the road was saved, and the 
value of Peter Cooper's land greatly increased — not in immediate 
revenue, but in prospective value. 

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad problem being thus off his 
hands, Mr. Cooper turned his attention to his 3,000 acres of land. 
Much of this was in wood, and every year large quantities of trees 
were cut down by trespassers, and the wood stolen. The site ap- 
pearing favorable, Mr. Cooper determined to establish iron-works 
on the place, burning the wood for charcoal for his furnaces. 

Subsequently Mr. Cooper sold off his Baltimore property to a 
combination of Boston capitalists for $90,000, agreeing to take part 
of the purchase-money in shares, of the stock, which these gentle- 
men, under the name of the "Canton Iron Company," proposed to 
issue, the par value of this stock being $100. Mr. Cooper took 
a large quantity at $45. By some means this stock was " bulled " 
in the market until it rose to $230, when Peter Cooper unloaded, 
pocketing immense profits. Afterwards he started iron-works in 
New York on a large scale ; also ran a wire factory in Trenton, 
New Jersey, and erected blast-furnaces at Andover and Phillips- 
burg in that State. He next established rolling and planing-mills, 
wire-works, mining and blast-furnaces in various parts of Pennsyl- 
vania ; but with all these various interests, which would have dis- 
tracted the brain of any common man, he kept on serenely with his 
Long Island glue-factory ; the profits from all these works rolling 
into his coffers in very satisfactory streams. 

First and last, Mr. Cooper has been engaged in perhaps as many 
different kinds of business as any of our successful men, making 
almost everything from a brick to a locomotive. Not a few people 
imagine that all his money has been made in "glue," but this is a 
great mistake. There have been times when he employed as 



PETER COOPER. IOI 

many as 2,500 men, and of all these, as he used to say, " he never 
owed one an hour after his work was done." There were never 
any " strikes " under his administration. He never asked accom- 
modations of the banks, but paid cash right along, through all his 
transactions with employes and others. In addition to his many 
branches of business, he still found leisure time in which to experi- 
ment in mechanics, chemicals, etc. He was an inventor by nature 
and practice. In his father s business, he had made various minor 
improvements as a mere boy ; in his overwork at coach-making 
he had struck out novel ideas in carving ; he made an improve- 
ment, which was patented, in the cloth-shearing machines which 
he found in use ; and perhaps not the least interesting invention 
was a self-rocking cradle, combining the valuable features of a fly- 
repeller and a musical box. This ingenious affair was made in 
self-defence, as he was in his early married life often called upon 
to " rock the cradle," while his young wife prepared their meals 
with her own hands. We might mention the improved coal- 
kilns, and the locomotive which he made in Baltimore. But per- 
haps quite as much a novelty as any of these was his experiment 
in tractile forces with an endless chain, the principle being the 
same which is now used to propel the cars on the great East River 
Bridge. The idea was first evolved in Mr. Cooper's mind in con- 
nection with its possible use on the Erie canal, shortly before the 
waters of Lake Erie were let into " Governor Clinton's big ditch," 
as the opponents of the w r ork were pleased to call this great water 
highway. Mr. Cooper was persuaded that the most economical 
mode of traction* for the canal-boats would be by the endless chain 
plan ; and being always practical in his arguments, he caused to 
be made an iron chain two miles long. Then he drove posts into 
the East river near the shore, starting at Eighth street, and con- 
tinuing at intervals for one mile northward. Next he rigged a 
water-wheel, and getting ready a boat, made his connections, and 
having invited Governor Clinton, Hamilton Fish, and some other 
gentlemen to witness the experiment, and accompany him, the 



102 



PETER COOPER. 



chain was set in motion, and so well did it operate, that the boat 
was drawn back and forth with wonderful speed and in perfect 
safety, the two miles being made in eleven minutes. For this ap- 
paratus Mr. Cooper received a patent, and when the President of 
the Camden and Amboy Canal Company, a few years ago, hit upon 
the same idea, and believing he had made an original discovery, 
entered his application at the Patent Office, he was as much sur- 
prised as disappointed to find that a patent for the same thing had 
been issued to one " Peter Cooper, of the city of New York," half 
a century before. 

Mr. Cooper afterwards applied the "endless chain principle" on 
a short railway, where loaded cars were moved on a double track, 
one over the other. During the struggle of the Greeks against 
Turkey in 1824-5, Mr. Cooper made a torpedo-boat, which he in- 
tended to send to the revolutionists, but this was unfortunately 
burned. Many other inventions might be named, but Mr. Cooper's 
fame did not rest on these things, and we pass to matters of more 
interest. 

When the new science of telegraphy was introduced by Pro- 
fessor Morse, Mr. Cooper was among the first to see its sig- 
nificance, and to hail its advent among the new forces put into the 
hands of man for the control of nature. Particularly did the vast 
scheme undertaken by Cyrus W. Field for tying together the 
eastern and western hemispheres chain his interest, and his entire 
and untiring sympathy. It was at his house that many of the 
preliminary conferences were held, and he was the first president, 
though the association was organized in Mr. Field's house in 
Gramercy Park ; but so great was Mr. Cooper's interest in the 
success of the Atlantic cable, that he personally accompanied the 
party which was to lay the connecting cable across the Bay of St. 
Lawrence. It was, we believe, the only time that Peter Cooper 
ever stood upon foreign soil. Starting from Cape Bay, the party 
proceeded to join the steamer on which was the cable. It was 
quite a gala-day ; the vessel was dressed with American and Brit- 



PETER COOPER. IO3 

ish flags. The scientists, including Professor Morse, and the irre- 
pressible Cyrus W. Field, were jubilant over this inauguration of 
the grand enterprise ; the spectators and even the crew were 
elated with the novelty and excitement of the occasion, and doubt- 
less all would have gone well, had it not been for the clumsy per- 
versity of the captain of the towing steamer. He belonged to 
the unbelieving fraternity ; had no faith in submarine telegraphs, 
and thought the gentlemen engaged in the business "a pack of 
lunatics." 

If ever Peter Cooper allowed a righteous indignation to get the 
better of his forbearance and charity, it was when speaking of this 
affair. He said that the captain of the towboat first stupidly ran 
his boat so as to come in violent collision with the cable steamer, 
tearing away her quarter rail and shrouds, and then carried her 
out of the harbor with such force that the cable broke and had to 
be cut and respliced, causing a delay of several hours, the captain 
of the towboat going off while the repairs were being made. On 
signaling him to return and take the ship on her course, he got 
the towing-line tangled in her wheel, and it had to be cut ; and the 
simple act of cutting was done so awkwardly that the line in its 
rebound swung around the anchor of the cable steamship, causing 
its loss, and putting the vessel and party on board in great peril, 
as a storm just then unfortunately arose, and the vessel was drift- 
ing fast towards a reef of rocks ; the towboat, however, came up 
in time to prevent this last disaster. Then the business of laying 
the cable across the gulf commenced ; but, by some unexplained 
mismanagement, the wire became tangled and the vessel could not 
proceed ; the cable had to be cut, and was dropped into the sea, 
at a loss of $300,000 to the company. Another steamer was sub- 
sequently sent to recover this cable, and when it was picked up 
the mystery of its loss was explained. Though the vessel had 
only made a distance of nine miles from land, the towing captain 
had paid out twenty-four miles of cable ! Certainly, if he had 
been in the pay of the enemies of the cable company he could not 
have served them better. 



104 PETER COOPER. 

Mr. Cooper was one of those few men in New York who held 
steadfastly to his faith in the ultimate success of the Atlantic cable 
through evil as well as good report, and was always ready to back 
his faith with his money. At one time, when the Bank of New- 
foundland refused to honor the paper of the company, he paid at 
once the required sum of $20,000; nor was this the only twenty 
thousand that he paid to help the enterprise out of difficulties, be- 
sides numerous smaller sums. In fact, for fourteen years his 
checks were always ready for this grand object. 

Peter Cooper has been identified with so many interests in New 
York and elsewhere that, if the great work of his life, as recog- 
nized by the people, were omitted, he would still have had one of 
the fullest and best records of any contemporary citizen ; but, in 
the conception and execution of the Cooper Union, he has placed 
the crown upon all of his other beneficences and charities — because 
that is permanent and self-perpetuating. How did Mr. Cooper, 
who had no school education himself, come to think of this noble 
institution ? It appears that one of his friends and colleagues in 
the Board of Aldermen, Mr. Rogers, went to Europe on a visit, 
and had been much struck with what he had seen and learned of 
the famous Polytechnic in Paris, and on his return told Mr. Cooper 
all he knew about it, adding that " there were many young men 
attending the school, with scarcely any means, who actually lived 
on a crust of bread daily for the sake of pursuing their studies 
there." This incident occurred when he was making money fast, 
though not yet rich, but the thought about the Polytechnic took 
deep root, and he said to himself, " If ever I am able I will 
establish such a school in New York — free for those unable to 
pay." For thirty years this idea germinated and expanded 
within him. How often, indeed, had he felt the need of 
technical instruction himself! But no one had founded a free 
school for him, and he had to scramble on through all his early 
life, learning through his eyes and ears, by conversation with 
manufacturers and workmen, with merchants and miners, reading 



PETER COOPER. 



X °5 



as he had time, remembering everything and putting so much 
acquired information to practical use that he was sure never to 
forget what he learned. How many self-made men, who have 
acquired fortunes, have said, when urged to give something for 
educational institutions, " I've got along very well without an 
education; let others do the same!" Not so Peter Cooper; 
no matter how bravely he overcame the deficiencies, he knew that 
he could have saved himself many long, weary hours of labor, 
which proved useless or superfluous, if he had enjoyed some pre- 
vious instruction in mechanics, chemistry and other scientific 
studies ; but the toils he had undergone only made him more piti- 
ful for his fellow-men ; his own remarkable success did not harden 
him, as great wealth does many persons ; instead of scorning the 
weak he sought to help them over the hard places, and thus feel- 
ing, the thought of a great free institution of instruction assumed 
greater importance in his mind. But it was not until 1854 that 
the plan was matured, drawings made, land cleared and the actual 
work commenced ; most of the land had indeed been bought long 
previously, but at this period all that was needed had been pur- 
chased. The plot of ground on which the " Cooper Union" build- 
ing stands is located at the head of the Bowery, between Third 
and Fourth avenues ; it has a frontage of ninety feet, the rear 
being one hundred and forty-six feet, and the sides respectively 
one hundred and sixty-five and one hundred and ninety-five feet, 
composing an irregular quadrangle. The first estimate of the cost, 
exclusive of land, was $350,000, but, before it was completed, it 
had cost $700,000. The precise object that Mr. Cooper had in 
view, in its erection and endowment, is thus concisely stated by the 
founder in a document which was placed under the corner-stone of 
the building. 

" The great object that I desire to accomplish by the erection 
of this institution is to open the avenues of scientific knowledge to 
the youth of our city and country, and so unfold the volume of 
nature, that the young may see the beauties of creation, enjoy its 



106 PETER COOPER. 

blessings and learn to love the Author, from whom cometh every 
good and perfect gift." 

So simply, piously and intelligently did Peter Cooper commence 
the great work which is to hand his name down to a grateful suc- 
cession of unknown and yet unborn beneficiaries. 

In politics Mr. Cooper was a Democrat and served as alder- 
man for many years. In the latter part of his life he espoused 
what is known as the " Greenback " party ; for many years he 
was a sachem of Tammany Hall, when that organization was 
in purer and more patriotic hands than at present. In 1849, 
while its presiding officer, he made an address eloquently advo- 
cating strict honesty in the management of municipal affairs. 
Later, when he saw that the organization was given over to the 
" one-man rule " system, and selfish ends' took the place of 
patriotic action, he withdrew from the association. Peter Cooper 
could tolerate no crooked ways, nor be a party to bargains where 
principles were sacrificed to profit. He held peculiar views upon 
the currency question — views which have not been indorsed 
by any eminent statesmen or any large political party, but which 
he had studied out for himself and upheld with perfect sincerity 
and unselfishness, for they could bring him no special honor 
among political economists or practical legislators ; but a small 
party, known as the " Greenbackers," took him up as their Presi- 
dential candidate in the campaign of 1876, and the convention of 
the " National Independent or Greenback Party," meeting at 
Indianapolis, on the 17th of May of the Centennial year, nomi- 
nated him for the highest office in the land. At first Mr. Cooper 
declined to accept the nomination, but was afterwards induced to 
do so by the continued solicitation of his friends. The party polled 
but a very small vote, as was to be expected. 

The failure of the Greenback party was in no way due to the 
character of its candidate, but to the impracticability of its theories : 
it would have failed with any possible nominee. In fact, with all 
his other fine qualities and great capacities, it derogates nothing 



PETER COOPER. IO7 

from the value of Mr. Cooper's character to frankly admit that 
he was not a statesman, or could ever have made even a successful 
politician. 

On the occasion of Mr. Cooper's ninety-second and last birth- 
day celebration, there was an increased ovation prepared by his 
friends, and he took that occasion to present to each of his callers 
and guests a copy of his latest work, a book entitled " Ideas for a 
Science of Good Government ; " it contained his opinions on the 
tariff, finance, civil service, the organization of labor, and such like 
subjects. He was very fond of getting his thoughts before the 
public in printed form, and many brochures bearing his name have 
been issued by the press, which sometimes included speeches and 
addresses made on public occasions. 

Among the many other services rendered to the city of his 
birth by the great philanthropist, was the aid which he gave in its 
greatest need to the American Geographical Society. For ten 
years, from 1865 to 1875, he was almost its only reliable support. 
This fact, of which there had been no previous publicity, was stated 
at a meeting of the society, held in Chickering Hall, in honor of 
his memory shortly after his decease. As a token of gratitude 
the society have ordered a life-size portrait of their colleague and 
benefactor to be painted and placed in the rooms. Though not a 
scientist in the modern acceptation of the word, Mr. Cooper was 
ever alive to the interests of science ; and to this influence may be 
attributed the establishment of that eminently valuable department, 
the Bureau of Vital Statistics. 

Mr. Cooper's long life is partly to be attributed, no doubt, to 
his good habits, even temperament, and constant occupation, and 
also, we may add, the natural pleasure which he constantly expe- 
rienced in seeing others made happy through his means. He did 
not appear to be, in his childhood, as strong as the average boy, 
and there is little doubt but that he was over-worked in his early 
youth; but when he became master of his own time, he seems to 
have known how to mingle hard work and study, routine duties 



108 PETER COOPER. 

and inventive experiments in such a way as to secure the best 
physical results ; and though for many years he had a great variety 
of business on his hands, he had such firm grasp of the whole, and 
possessed that essential self-poise and confidence in his own abil- 
ity that he never became nervous and fretful as do many persons 
under similar circumstances. Then, too, in eating and drinking 
he exercised becoming moderation, yet he was not an ascetic or 
fanatic ; he knew how to use the good things of life without abus- 
ing them. He was not a " total abstinence " man ; he had never 
felt the need of resorting to such extreme measures in the regula- 
tion of his own life. He was, however, a member of the Business 
Men's Moderation Society, and was ever anxious to promote the 
cause of true sobriety. 

It is said by those who know the interior workings of the Cooper 
method, that when the late philanthropist was disposed to make 
an important gift of any kind, as in the building endowment, and 
subsequent gifts to the Cooper Institute, that he was in the habit 
of consulting and procuring the approval of his wife and other 
adult members of his family, so that he should be assured that his 
action would cause no unpleasant feelings or regrets among those 
who might properly expect to be his heirs. If this was so, as we 
believe it was, it showed an unusual wisdom, and was a course 
calculated, above all others, to secure for himself a peaceful and 
happy old age; and it is pleasant to know that his son, Mr. Edward 
Cooper, ex-Mayor of New York, and his son-in-law and daughter, 
Mr. and Mrs. Abram S. Hewitt, as well as his wife, when alive, 
heartily sympathized with and participated in his interest with all 
that concerned .the Cooper Union. Whether they always coin- 
cided in his views and modes as to minor charities is not so im- 
portant. Some of these modes were as unconventional as was 
that of the divine Nazarene who sent out into the highways and 
hedges to collect his guests. 

During the "hard times " of the winters from 1874 to 1877, 
there was great suffering among the unemployed poor; there was 



PETER COOPER. IO9 

never at any previous time in the United States so many people 
unable to obtain work who were willing to do it. During these 
winters the venerable Peter Cooper sat in his comfortable resi- 
dence at No. 9 Lexington avenue, in his combined library and 
office on the ground-floor, and on the table before him was piled, 
on one side, heaps of silver half dollars, on the other side packages 
of one dollar bills, and from three o'clock in the afternoon until 
half-past six he distributed this money to any and every poor per- 
son who asked for it. He did not question them and torment 
them with suspicions ; he did not ask if they were " worthy." If 
they were poor enough to need a dollar and to come for it, they 
received it with a benevolent smile and went their way, blessing in 
their hearts, if not in profuse words, the generous giver. Occa- 
sionally if a case was presented which seemed peculiar or particu- 
larly needy, or where ill-health was obvious, the address of the 
applicant was taken and further assistance rendered. Mr. Cooper 
was wont to say, that the poor members of churches and other 
" worthy " persons would be looked after by organized societies ; 
his largess was to a certain extent indiscriminate, and it was the 
sufferer's need rather than his worth which excited his compas- 
sion — those whom no one else would help came to him. On some 
days as much as $200 was given away in this manner. In one 
week there was $1,500 thus disposed of. 

Mr. Cooper died on Wednesday, the 4th of April, 1883. In 
February of the same year he had celebrated his ninety-second 
birthday anniversary. The immediate cause of his death was ex- 
haustion from several heavy colds contracted during the winter, 
the last being complicated with pneumonia, yet he was only con- 
fined to his bed for a little over twenty-four hours, and a week 
previously had been down-town to the office of " Cooper, Hewitt 
& Co.," Burling slip, and the Saturday previous had driven to 
Cooper Institute, where he remained a long time overseeing some 
repairs being made there. Of his immediate family Mr. Cooper 
left but one son, Edward, and one daughter, Sarah Amelia 



IIO PETER COOPER. 

(Hewitt), who have respectively five and six children. Mr. 
Cooper had lost four children in infancy. By his will, after be- 
queathing an additional $100,000 for the uses of the Cooper Union, 
he divides the rest of his property equally between his two chil- 
dren ; subject to many legacies to relatives and connections by 
marriage, not forgetting his household servants and certain old 
employes. Like all the rest of his life his will was reasonable and 
satisfactory to all who had any right to have an opinion on the 
subject. 

As the news of Mr. Cooper's death was spread abroad through 
the city there was universal recognition as of a general loss ; 
flags began to rise half-mast high ; institutions with which he was 
connected closed their doors ; the classes in Cooper Institute sus- 
pended their work, teachers and pupils being too much affected 
to continue; stores broke out into mourning; private houses were 
seen with crape-draped pictures of Peter Cooper in their windows, 
and every symptom of respect and sympathy was as spontaneous 
as universal. The funeral was held (after private service at the 
house) in the Unitarian church on Fourth avenue and Twentieth 
street, of which the late Dr. Bellows had been for many years the 
pastor. It was here that Mr. Cooper had attended service ever 
since the church was built. The crowd which gathered about the 
edifice w r as immense, and a cordon of police was found necessary 
to keep the street from becoming blocked. This was a real and 
not a mock funeral. 

Peter Cooper was an extraordinary man ; the first marvel of his 
life is the great variety of occupations which he undertook, and 
which he succeeded in, without any visible means of acquiring any 
specific knowledge about them. The earlier trades he learned 
more or less perfectly from his father and the foreman of the 
coach factory, but where did he learn to make cloth-shearing ma- 
chines? upon which work he commenced as a journeyman, at 
good wages, immediately after completing his apprenticeship at 
coach-making. Where did he get his information how to make 



PETER COOPER. Ill 

better glue, isinglass, etc., etc., than others had made? and yet he 
conducted this business himself for years ; how did he know how 
to build kilns for making charcoal for locomotives to save a mori- 
bund railroad ? How could he venture on the manufacture of 
iron, who had never been taught the trade? or cabinet furniture? 
as he did on Long Island. How few persons could open a grocery 
store and make it pay from the start who had never been brought 
up in the business ? how many lads could make a shoemaker's 
last and then make a wearable shoe upon it who had never been 
taught either art ? or a machine for mortising hubs ? when they 
were only learning the old style already in use. If in early life this 
man had been to a German " real schule" a Stevens Technical In- 
stitute, or a Cooper Union, we might understand how he might 
get an insight into many trades and acquire general ideas upon 
mechanics, chemicals, water-power, and so forth ; but the mystery 
deepens when we consider that he received all his schooling be- 
tween his seventh and eighth year — about six months in all, barely 
time to learn to read. What industry he must have exercised in 
after life to make up this sad deficiency ! what acuteness in ob- 
serving ! what self-denial in cutting himself off from all the ordinary 
pleasures of youth ! 

Mr. Cooper has himself said that he attributed his success mainly 
to the fact that he always rendered a full equivalent for every dol- 
lar received ; another reason, we think, may be added, namely, 
that he always paid cash and paid promptly all whom he employed, 
and was never morose or over-exacting. He was self-helpful ; 
for the first half of his life he never hired any one. to do for him 
what he could do for himself; he worked steadily upward and 
onward, showing no nervous desire to get into aristocratic circles, 
but as he grew in years and knowledge he naturally acquired the 
manners of good society and took his place — the place which ac- 
quired wealth had given him, without ostentation, but without any 
false modesty ; he grew old gracefully, and he grew rich without 
assuming any of the airs of the parvenu. 



JUDAH TOURO. 

The Israelite without guile was Judah Touro, whose memory is 
treasured not only in New Orleans, where he left so many public 
memorials of his benevolence, but in other parts of the country 
and in foreign lands, where his great generosity was enjoyed. 
He was first a philanthropist and then a Hebrew ; first a man and 
then a sectarian. His great love-nature was diverted from domestic 
ties, for he had neither wife nor child ; and after he had reached 
manhood neither kith nor kin found expression in a broad human- 
itarian affection that included all his kind. A sweet reasonable- 
ness characterized his life ; gentleness and patience were his 
attributes, and his loving devotion to good works attested the 
nobility of his mind. From his earliest years he was rich in the 
inheritance of a generous disposition, and but for his singleness of 
purpose, his instinctive love of work-— in other words, his industry — 
he would not have acquired the fortune that he did, since he gave 
with a liberal hand from the moment that he possessed means of 
his own. In order to give he denied himself, living, at the begin- 
ning of his career as he lived to the close, a life of severe sim- 
plicity and priestly purity. 

His heart was larger than sects, and greater than mankind. 
He loved all men ; sought to serve the world, and gave his life to 
the gratification of this desire. He was a phenomenal character in 
New Orleans at the beginning of the century, when he went there 
from New England to begin his career. He was a phenomenal 
character when he died there, in 1854, having passed through 
half a century of time without incurring resentment or encoun- 
tering enmity. This, of itself, is evidence of rare qualities of 
mind and heart, and, taken in connection with the fact that he 
(112) 




JUDAH TCURO. 



JUDAH TOURO. II3 

was all the time amassing money and died a millionaire, an idea 
of his personality may be had. The story of his life is therefore 
worth the hearing, and more than worth the telling. 

Judah Touro was the son of a highly educated and cultured 
Hebrew, born in Holland, and whose parents were wealthy, and 
who gave their child every advantage. They furthermore gave 
him, which was of more value to him, a fine constitution, a good dis- 
position, and an early childhood of sunny memories. The domestic 
life of the Hebrew people is a credit to them, and the men and 
women of the race owe more of their happiness to this fact than 
to any other. Isaac Touro was the son of a happy home, and 
when he went forth from that home it was with no half-formed 
ideas of life and its duties. Reared religiously, he was a devoted 
Hebrew, and when he came from Holland to America, and settled 
at Newport, R. L, it was to officiate as priest in the synagogue of 
Yeshuat Israel, in that pleasant sea-side city, in the year 1762, 
where he married into an excellent family. His wife was the sis- 
ter of Michael Moses Hays, one of the leading men of Newport, 
and she bore him three children, ere the Jewish congregation 
was scattered by the British army, which devastated the coast, com- 
pelling the Rabbi and his family to seek refuge in Kingston, 
Jamaica. Of these children, Judah, the eldest, born at the very 
hour, in 1776, when the pealing artillery declared American Inde- 
pendence, was only seven years of age when the death of his 
father, penniless and far from the home of his adoption, threw the 
little family upon the kindness of his mother's brother. The four 
were received into Mr. Hayes' family, but the mother soon fol- 
lowed her husband into the grave, leaving all three to the care of 
the best and kindest of uncles. By him they were reared care- 
fully in habits of integrity and industry. The younger brother 
and sister died soon after Judah reached manhood, and the sub- 
ject of our sketch alone remained of all the name. 

From the counting-room of Mr. Hays, Judah Touro was sent as 

supercargo with a costly shipment of goods to the trading ports 
8 



114 JUDAH TOURO. 

of the Mediterranean. On this voyage the ship had a fierce en- 
counter with a French privateer, from which it came off conqueror, 
and the young merchant returned only to embark in 1801 for the 
city of New Orleans, which was to be his future home. This young 
Spanish city was then in its infancy, and Mr. Touro was destined 
to grow up with its growth and wealth. Opening a store of " no- 
tions " on St. Louis street, he embarked in trade on his own 
account. Clear, cool-headed, of unquestioning integrity, com- 
petent and faithful to fulfil every undertaking, it took but little 
time for Mr. Touro to win the respect of all business men. 
Shippers from the North were only too glad to bring him 
their cargoes; which he never risked by speculation. Here he 
early formed the strongest ties of his life. Two young Vir- 
ginians, J. H. and Rezin D. Shepherd, and Judah Touro became 
almost inseparable, and when the former died, the friendship 
with the surviving brother became yet stronger and firmer 
than ever. They lived under the same roof and were rarely sep- 
arated. And soon a stronger and yet more sacred bond united 
them. 

When Louisiana was invaded during the war of 18 14—15, these 
two young men sprang to the defence of their adopted city, Mr. 
Touro being attached to the militia, and Mr. Shepherd to the 
horse troop. 

The latter, while acting as aid to Commodore Patterson, 
was sent on an expedition with orders to have some work 
executed immediately. While absent, he learned that his friend, 
Touro, had been killed, and that his remains were lying by an old 
semi-detached wall. Proceeding thither, Mr. Shepherd found 
his friend still breathing but speechless and apparently fast going, 
having been struck on the thigh by a twelve-pound shot, leaving a 
terrible wound. The physician in charge giving no hope of his 
life, Mr. Shepherd lifted the unconscious form into a cart and had 
it tenderly conveyed to the city, administering brandy, meanwhile, 
to keep the flame of life alive. He never rested until Mr. Touro 



JUDAH TOURO. I 1 5 

was placed in his own bed and the best nurses to be found were in 
attendance ; this done, he hastened to fulfil the commission which 
had been intrusted to him by Commodore Patterson. 

It is no wonder if his commander looked at him sternly and 
inquired the cause of his delay, which Mr. Shepherd soon explained. 
He finished by saying: 

" Commodore, you can hang me or shoot me ; it will be all right; 
but my best friend needed my assistance, and nothing on earth 
could have induced me to neglect him." 

And what could his chief officer do but forgive and admire his 
courage and friendship ? 

It is needless to say that the two became warmer friends than 
ever, after the convalescence of the wounded man, and the war was 
ended. 

The lovely character of the subject of this sketch continued un- 
dimmed in lustre with the advance of years and the increase 
of wealth. No less charitable, no less philanthropic, no less 
thoughtful of the rights of others, he continued to the day of his 
death a pattern of an upright, true, noble-minded gentleman. 
Quietly he established religious and educational institutions and 
liberally he endowed them. A man of peace and tranquillity, he 
avoided everything which tended to foster strife, and could not 
even endure theological disputations. In fact he was eminently 
non-sectarian, as one incident will show. Agents who were in New 
Orleans soliciting funds wherewith to relieve the poor Christians 
in Jerusalem, were directed to solicit alms from the rich Hebrew, 
and they were successful, to the great surprise of those who sent 
them on what they supposed a fruitless errand, for Mr. Touro had 
contributed two hundred dollars to their fund. 

Again, when the only Universalist Church in New Orleans was 
in danger of sale through church-debt, it was this Hebrew who at- 
tended the sheriff's sale, and without promise, parade or ostenta- 
tion, bid off the church and became its sole owner. Then turning 
to the Rev. Mr. Clapp, its pastor, he bade him continue to hold 



Il6 JUDAH TOURO. 

services in that building which had been saved for the purpose by 
one whose own religious tenets were those of the Jewish faith. 
Nor did he ever ask for rent so long as it stood ; and after 
its destruction by fire, it was Mr. Touro who came forward 
with a large subscription of money to go toward the fund for re- 
building. 

Nor were his benefactions confined to purely local objects. His 
check for $ 10,000 helped finish Bunker Hill monument, which 
commemorates the victories of the American Revolution. He 
never owned but one slave, and him he freed and supplied with 
means by which he was able to embark in business, and he eman- 
cipated and aided those owned by his friends, the Shepherds. 
Indeed, so generous, loyal and catholic a spirit has seldom been in 
any city. Faithful, true, unselfish, the poor blessed, and the rich 
loved him. 

In 1854 Judah Touro sank gently into his last slumber, at the 
age of seventy-nine. Two weeks before, he signed his last will, in 
which, after giving $80,000 to establish an almshouse, and bestow- 
ing one-half his estate on other charitable institutions, endowments 
to various Hebrew congregations and a large legacy to aid in re- 
storing to Israel the scattered tribes of Israel, he made his old 
friend and companion the residuary legatee of his vast fortune. 
He says : "As regards my other designated executor, my old, dear 
and devoted friend, Rezin David Shepherd, to whom, under Divine 
Providence, I am greatly indebted for the preservation of my life, 
etc.," and then appoints him " the universal legatee of the rest and 
residue of my estates, movable and immovable." 

Such was the remembrance and gratitude of one noble spirit for 
the loving acts of another, which had taken place nearly forty years 
before ! 

One of the strongest wishes of his latest hours was, that his 
mortal remains might be carried to Newport, there to repose be- 
side that of the mother whom he so tenderly loved, and who had 
been taken from him when he was but eleven years old. In fact 



JUDAH TOURO. II7 

it was so expressed in his will. Accordingly the coffin containing 
all that was left of the good old man was conveyed north by 
the steamer, and placed before the altar of that synagogue in 
which his father had been officiating priest more than eighty 
years before. And after the last solemn ceremonies, a long 
procession both of friends and strangers followed one to the 
grave who had left a name linked with a thousand good deeds 
and scarce a fault to mar them. Truly, does the memory of 
such 

" Smell sweet 
And blossom in the dust." 



HENRY DISSTON. 

Henry Disston, founder of the great establishment owned by 
the firm of Henry Disston & Sons, known as the Keystone Saw 
Works, was born in Tewkesbury, England, May 24, 18 19, and died 
of paralysis, March 16, 1878. He came to this country at the age 
of fourteen years, in company with his father and oldest sister. 
The father died three days after their arrival in Philadelphia. 
After a short time he bound himself apprentice to the trade of 
saw-maker, and at the expiration of his service commenced busi- 
ness on his own account in a room and basement in the vicinity 
of Second and Arch streets : the room being used as an office and 
workshop, and the basement as a hardening room. He did all his 
own work — wheeling the first barrow-load of coal from Willow 
street wharf to his shop, a distance of half a mile. The manufac- 
true of hand-saws had already been attempted by other parties, 
but with indifferent success, and it seems to have been reserved 
for Mr. Disston to establish that important and useful branch of 
industry on a firm and enduring basis in this country. But this 
was not accomplished without many severe trials and struggles. 
In order to prove to merchants that he was determined to compete 
with the foreign market, Mr. Disston was frequently compelled to 
sell his saws at an advance of only one per cent, over the cost of 
production. In the year 1846 he removed his small establishment 
and rented a frame building on the side of the Philadelphia 
Works at Front and Laurel streets : this building being the germ 
from which sprung the present extensive works at Front and 
Laurel streets and Tacony. In 1849 ne was burned out, and this 
event caused him to take up a lot adjoining, sixty by one hundred 
(118) 




HENRY DISSTON. 



HENRY DISSTON II9 

and fifty feet, on which, in the space of ten days, his first factory, 
thirty by sixty feet, and four stones high, was erected. 

The business has grown steadily since that time : largely as the 
result of skill and persistence in the invention and adoption of 
new and more perfect forms, and the reduction in the cost of pro- 
duction brought about by the invention of labor-saving machinery. 
At the same time Mr. Disston made it a matter of primary con- 
sideration that the tools of his manufacture should be superior in 
all respects, so that a market gained was never lost : there was a 
steady advance of the business in this and other countries. 

The works at Laurel street, where the steel was made, and the 
steel parts of tools manufactured, until their removal to Tacony in 
1883, cover eight acres of ground, and are filled with machinery 
for perfecting the process of manufacture and reducing cost. Mr. 
Disston's inventive skill and knowledge of what was needed 
enabled him to devise and introduce many new forms of teeth for 
saws, designed for special kinds of work, and combination tools 
which are so useful that they find a ready sale, particularly in new 
countries. Previous to the civil war it was customary to send 
back to England all the scrap or waste steel, made in cutting out 
saws, for the purpose of having it remanufactured into sheets, 
which were then reimported. 

This told so heavily against the American manufacturer that 
Mr. Disston about that time commenced to make waste steel into 
ingots, which he caused to be rolled into sheets for the manufac- 
ture of the cheaper quality of goods. This was carried on very 
successfully, and the works have produced over eighty tons of 
sheet steel per week, the whole of it being consumed in the estab- 
lishment. The firm also makes cane-knives, trowels, moulding- 
bits, planing-knives, cork and paper-cutting knives, moulders' tools, 
and similar articles. At Tacony there are branch works where 
files, both machine and hand-cut, and the brass work and wood 
work for the other tools are manufactured. The file-works were 
established originally to supply the saw-works with files, but a de- 



120 HENRY DISSTON. 

mand soon sprang up for them, and large quantities are now made 
for the general market. The variety of the manufactures enabled 
the firm to make one of the finest and most valuable displays of 
steel tools in the Centennial Exhibition. The magnitude of the 
works in 1882 will be shown by the following figures: 

Twenty-one thousand tons of coal were consumed, 2,000,000 
feet of lumber used, 4,000 tons of plate and sheet steel made and 
worked into* tools; besides buying 450 tons of bar steel for files, 
they turned out 1,692,000 single saws, 3,810 large, and 39,000 
small circular saws; 1,250,000 long saws, 201,500 dozen files, be- 
sides large quantities of miscellaneous tools made in the jobbing 
department. There were 1,600 men employed, and the pay-roll 
reached $17,800 per week. 

Mr. Disston, fortunately for his business, had five sons, who all 
take an active interest in the business, and have the ambition of 
their father to make the concern the largest of its kind in the 
world. The business was in 1883 a third larger than in the foun- 
der's time. The growth of the business, brought about by skill in 
invention, strict business integrity, and persistence, is remarkable, 
when one considers that Disston's saws had first to overcome in 
the home market a strong prejudice in favor of English tools, and 
then to compete with such tools in foreign markets. Their saws 
are now regularly exported to Great Britain and her colonies, and, 
indeed, to all parts of the world. Personally Mr. Disston was a 
man to whom success would have been possible in any department 
of productive industry ; practical in all things and self-reliant, he also 
possessed exceptional executive ability, and surrounded himself 
with men calculated to fill subordinate positions to the best advan- 
tage. Hale, hearty, and jovial, he was always popular ; but no 
one thought of trifling with him or presuming on his good nature. 
He exacted fidelity on the part of all who served him, but was so 
liberal in his intercourse with his workmen, so kind and con- 
siderate as an employer, that he was esteemed and beloved by all, 
and looked upon as a personal friend. There are few large es- 



HENRY DISSTON. I 2 1 

tablishments in the country where a better feeling exists between 
master and men, or where less is thought or said about the conflict 
of capital and labor. He was a man of deep religious and charit- 
able feeling, a member of the Presbyterian denomination, and 
Oxford Presbyterian church, Philadelphia, and his large gifts aided 
much in founding that church ; however, he was in no manner 
narrow or sectarian in his gifts. All denominations received his 
material support. Poor and struggling churches ever found an 
open purse, and manly, Christian-like sympathy. The various 
charities of his own particular city were forwarded by his interests 
and means; he supported in years of business depression a soup- 
house in the vicinity of his factory. Appeals for educational and 
charitable work in all sections of the country were met with sin- 
cere and substantial responses. He was a member of St. George's 
Society, and prominent in the Masonic Order. Although he took 
no active part in politics, his political sentiments were very pro- 
nounced : he was selected by the Republican party as an elector 
in the Hayes and Wheeler campaign. 

The following is an editorial from the Public Ledger of March 
1 8th, 1878: 

"Although the great establishment founded by Henry Disston 
will continue to occupy the front rank it has won among the work- 
shops of the world, it is still a serious loss to Philadelphia that he 
is no longer among her living citizens. The death of a man, use- 
ful as he has been, in what is generally the prime vigor of man- 
hood, is an event to be marked by universal public regret. He 
was one of the men whose works have made our city famous for 
the superiority of the products turned out from our work-shops, 
foundries, factories and laboratories. Wherever the Disston saws 
have been carried (and that is everywhere on this side of the At- 
lantic, and to many foreign countries) they have carried the name 
of the city also, and their good name as the best products of the 
saw manufacturers of the world, has added so much more to the 
high credit of Philadelphia. In the foreign countries to which the 
Disston saws have made their way, they have not only increased 



122 HENRY DISSTON. 

the reputation of our city, but have contributed largely to the 
credit of the whole country ; they were not only Disston's Phila- 
delphia saws, but they were Disston's American saws. Henry 
Disston was a born mechanic, in the comprehensive meaning of 
the term. He had the faculty of observing wherein a familiar tool, 
or implement, or machine was defective ; the genius to devise the 
means to improve it, and the handicraft skill to do the manual 
work necessary to carry his own device into effect. He had other 
qualities quite as essential to the great mechanic: he was industri- 
ous, hopeful and persevering ; confident that superiority of work- 
manship must win success ; confident that he could turn out supe- 
rior work, and resolute in the endeavor to make his tools the best 
of their kind. He had one other priceless quality : he was not 
above doing with his own hands any of the labor incident to his 
trade. Without these qualities, and some others not named, such 
as frugality and patience in his early struggles, the little basement 
near Second and Arch, where he was master, journeyman, appren- 
tice, laborer and salesman, all in one, would never have bloomed 
and fruited into the world-renowned works at Front and Laurel. 
They were the open secrets of the success of Henry Disston, that 
made his career one of inestimable usefulness and value to his 
townsmen, and of great credit to his country. What a volume of 
that instruction that teaches by example there is for the young 
mechanic in that brief recital of the qualities that made Henry 
Disston successful, famous and prosperous ; that made him an in- 
valuable member of the community in which he lived, and broadly 
useful to the world at large ! We have spoken of Mr. Disston in- 
dividually, apart from the associates and partners gadiered about 
him as a nucleus as his house grew in importance. Doubtless he 
had the aid in recent times of many a quick eye, ingenious mind, 
and skilled hands, for he was the sort of man to attract these, and 
to train them up ; but his was the devising and moving power — 
the creative and impelling force. When he came to the close of 
his self-imposed apprenticeship, the saw manufacture, especially in 
this country, was crude, a very few varieties of implements, and 
none of them of superior quality, being made for service in all 
kinds of work. Under his guidance the manufacture grew into a 
refined system, and he leaves it almost an art. For every special 
service a saw was required to do, in the advanced work of modern 
mechanics, he devised and furnished the special saw, exactly fitted 



HENRY DISSTON. 1 23 

to its working duty, so handy, so well adapted, so completely fin- 
ished, that workmen wondered they had never been supplied with 
such obviously essential tools before. The production of such 
work will go on, now that he has passed away, just as it did while 
he was living, for he has given the impulse, shown the way, and 
lighted the track a long way into the future. It is among the 
Providences that the impulses given by such men do not cease 
when their hands are stilled by death. It is among the most hon- 
orable things to the memory of Mr. Disston, that he had the 
unwavering good-will of his workmen, and that they had in him 
a friend as well as employer, always devoted to their welfare ; 
always interested in their comfort, health and happiness ; always 
ready with his kindly words of cheer and encouragement. They 
knew that the prosperity of the Disston works meant good wages 
for them, and that no propositions for reduction would ever come 
to them unless he was under the compulsion of strict necessity. 
These things, it may be repeated, are among the most honorable 
to his memory, and are of a nature to add to the deep public re- 
gret for his loss by death in what might have been the prime vigor 
of his years." 

Mr. Disston was largely interested in Atlantic City, owning many 
cottages there, and a saw-mill, employing twenty hands. The fol- 
lowing is an extract from an article from a paper of that place : 

" Mr. Disston, dead, has just begun to live in the hearts of those 
who knew him. He has an abiding place in the memory of those 
who understood the man, and after this generation shall have 
moulded into the common dust of those which have preceded it, 
the figure of this representative son will be conspicuous among 
the line of great American master-mechanics which illuminate the 
pages of history. His love of mankind was one of the eccentric 
qualities of his heart. His habits were industrious, and the amount 
of thought and labor he was willing and capable of doing was pro- 
digious. His active mind spurred him on through life, and gave 
him little respite. He excelled in force, and his earnestness was 
the secret of his power. His sturdy arm never faltered, and his 
heart never failed. The lesson taught by such a life as this can- 
not fail to affect the youth of to-day." 



JAMES C. FLOOD. 

One of the announcements made by the assessor of San Fran- 
cisco, as reported in the daily papers, was as follows : " James C. 
Flood has been assessed for $36,300,000 personal property," be- 
sides $250,000 in money ; nothing is said of his real estate. James 
C. Flood, it may be easily divined from this statement, is one of the 
" bonanza kings." He is still in the prime of life, and we do not 
know how much he may yet add to the above enormous figures. 
Mr. Flood was born in the city of New York about 1826. He re- 
ceived a plain common school education, and has appeared to 
prosper very well on that; indeed it is surprising to find how few 
of the California millionaires had any special advantages in their 
early youth. How his time was occupied between his school-days 
and his majority has not transpired, but when about twenty-three 
years of age, in 1849, he sailed for California in the good ship 
" Elizabeth Ellen," making the long journey around the Horn, an 
adventurous youth without money or connections to give him a 
start in the new land. Like nearly all the adventurers of that 
period, Mr. Flood had troublous times ; had his disappointments 
and failures, and plenty of hard work ; indeed we do not recall the 
name of one successful miner, who had not to go through a longer 
or shorter period of probation, in which their courage and perse- 
verance was severely tried. There was an element of chance as 
there is in all the walks of life, but there was also in all the extra- 
ordinarily successful Californians a strong admixture of brains and 
of will power ; it takes brains to keep money as well as to get it ; 
for no sooner is it known that a man has anything to lose, than 
there is always ready an unscrupulous crowd to test his tenacity, 
and by skill or cunning ever striving to compel him to loose his 
C"4) 




JAMES C. FLOOD. 



JAMES C. FLOOD. 1 25 

hold of the treasure. It was not until 1854 that we find Mr. Flood 
emerging from obscurity, and becoming known in financial circles 
as the leading partner in the firm of Flood & O'Brien. This firm 
was soon deep in " Kentuck," and other mines on the Comstock, 
but it was not until they took hold of the Hale & Norcross that 
the public heard much about them. They took the most out of 
this mine in a few months (in the first six months of 1875) tnat 
has ever been extracted from it in a similar period of time, and 
created for it a fame which has not always proved so beneficial 
to their successors ; one might almost say that mines had their 
caprices, and would yield under one set of hands what they would 
not surrender to another. Flood & O'Brien were the first 
bonanza kings, and it may be said of them that they shared their 
increase of wealth to a certain extent generously; not infrequently 
giving away " points " to poorer friends, which they might have 
sold to speculators had they so chosen. It was soon after this 
grand strike that Mr. Flood projected the " Nevada Bank," located 
in San Francisco, his ambition being to establish it on such a firm 
and substantial basis that the winds and waves of mercantile 
speculators should not be able, under any circumstances, to pre- 
vail against it. The status of this bank is as follows : it has a paid- 
up capital of $ 10,000,000 in gold, and a reserve in United States 
bonds of $3,500,000. The Board of Directors include the names 
of the three bonanza kings: J. C. Flood, James G. Fair and John 
W. Mackay. Its circular states that it has special facilities for 
dealing in " bullion " — we should think it had ! 

It was after finishing the immense row of buildings called the 
" Nevada Block," in San Francisco, and just before starting the 
Nevada Bank, that Flood made his heavy call on the California 
Bank which led to its suspension and incidentally to the death of 
William C. Ralston. From this time forward Mr. Flood's popularity 
waned. Ralston had been so much a favorite that none of those 
immediately concerned in bringing about his fatal misfortune were 
ever quite forgiven by the people of the city. Indeed, at one time 



126 JAMES C. FLOOD. 

it was not uncommon in certain quarters to hear threats against 
Mr. Fair's person, and even his life. The Nevada Bank was 
looked upon by many as an intended rival of the Bank of Califor- 
nia and not a legitimate business enterprise. Certain it is that 
after the catastrophe of Ralston's sudden death Flood ceased to 
visit his old haunts ; he rode instead of walking as was his wont, 
and generally withdrew himself from the " commonalty " who were 
the most bitter against him, as they had been the most prospered 
and benefited by Ralston's enterprise and generosity. 

Mr. Flood has " one fair daughter whom he loves passing well," 
and as she is likely to be the richest heiress in California, perhaps 
in the United States, there is of course much interest attached to 
all relating to her. This kind of publicity is not at all agreeable 
to the young lady, who is of a modest and sensible turn of mind, a 
good, unaffected girl, not given to flourishing in diamonds, or in 
any way making a parade of her wealth, for she is rich in her own 
right as well as prospectively, for when Mr. Flood's income was at 
its zenith from the bonanza mines, he bought $2,500,000 of United 
States 4 per cents., and presented them to Miss Jennie. Of course 
all sorts of stories are rife on the Pacific coast regarding her; at 
one time it is announced that she is about to take the veil, and to 
endow the convent where she was educated with her fortune ; then 
again, that she is to marry this one or that, usually without the 
slightest foundation. One of the most persistent of these tales 
was to the effect that she was engaged to General Grant's second 
son, Ulysses ; and many romantic incidents were manufactured to 
tally with this report, but the plain truth appears to be that while 
the General and Mr. Flood had an idea that it would be a suitable 
and satisfactory match, the young people had other views, and the 
project came to naught. Miss Flood has hitherto evinced no dis- 
position to contract matrimony ; having also, it is said, refused an 
English nobleman (Lord Beaumont) who recently visited the 
Pacific coast, and was smitten with her charms, or, as she naturally 
feared, with her long bank-account. Indeed, the California heir- 



JAMES C. FLOOD. \2J 

esses must run uncommon dangers of that sort. When possible 
suitors to a young lady have an opportunity of studying the 
assessment rolls and find such a record as we give below attached 
to the name of James C. Flood, it is surely enough to awaken love 
for the heiress, even in the most unsusceptible heart: "James C. 
Flood, 6,000 shares Nevada Bank, $1,200,000; 12,000 shares 
Pacific Mill and Mining Company, $400,000; 250 shares Pacific 
Wood, Lumber and Flume Company, $30,000; 1,000 shares San 
Francisco Gaslight stock, $90,000; 937 shares Golden City Chemi- 
cal Works, $20,000 ; 3,000 shares Virginia and Gold Hill Water 
Company, $300,000 ; 47^2 shares Giant Powder Company, $60,- 
000 ; 649*^ shares Atlantic Giant Powder Company, $30,000 ; 
solvent credit money, $250,000; 35,000 shares Ophir mine stock, 
$1,000,000." So far individual; then follows J. C. Flood & Co. 
" Controlling interest in shares of stock of Yellow Jacket, Union 
Consolidated, Scorpion, Savage, Ophir, Occidental, Hale & Nor- 
cross, Gould & Curry, Consolidated Virginia, California, Best & 
Belcher, and other mining companies, $10,000,000; money, $500,- 
000." Then, in addition, James C. Flood & Co. are assessed as 
trustees of J. W. Mackay for $20,572,500 in personal property, 
and $750,000 in money. The principal items are: 7,125 shares in 
Nevada Bank stock, worth $1,450,000; 32,000 shares Pacific Mill 
and Mining Company, $1,200,000; mining stocks of the value of 
$2,000,000, namely, 39,570 shares of California; 64,110 shares of 
Consolidated Virginia; 14,718 Yellow Jacket, with other smaller 
lots. Altogether the assessment rolls up to $36,300,000 personal 
property and $250,000 in money ; a very pretty fortune for a man 
who a few years ago was keeping a little restaurant on Washing- 
ton street, in San Francisco. 

One of the most astonishing things about Mr. Flood is his 
memory, or rather on occasions the extraordinary lack of it. Not 
very long ago Mr. John H. Burk sued Mr. Flood to recover the 
value of certain " sluices " and " tailings " on some of the Com- 
stock mines; the sum claimed was $26,000,000; in that circle of 



128 JAMES C. FLOOD. 

financiers they seem to deal in nothing less than millions. In 
response to certain questions put by a notary to Mr. Flood it 
appeared by his answers that he did not know " what company 
milled the ores of the Consolidated Virginia Company; " he "did 
not know " who was the president of that company ; he " thought 
he was himself once," but could not say when; "did not remem- 
ber " the names of any of the officers except Fair and Mackay ; 
he "did not know" where the crude bullion from his own mines 
were sent to be melted into bars ; he " did not know " who paid 
for the assaying ; " did not know " how much was worked, or "any- 
thing else about it ; " did not know that the ore was weighed — 
understood it was ; "did not know" who is or was treasurer of 
the Mill Company ; he might himself have been, and " might be 
now," but did not know ; could not tell what the profits had been, 
"not even approximately within $100 per share" of what he had 
received, and many other questions of a similar nature, to all of 
which he was equally oblivious. 

Mr. Flood is building on Nob Hill a $5,000,000 house, which 
he intends shall eclipse all others yet erected in this country. 
It is said that his friend, J. W. Mackay, is making heavy pur- 
chases of pictures in Europe on Flood's account. 



ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL. 

Less than ten years ago a poor Englishman, living in New 
Haven, Conn., commenced experimenting in telegraphy, and find- 
ing out accidentally that he could talk over the wires, he con- 
ceived the idea of turning this discovery to practical account, and 
the result was " the Bell Telephone." The first public experi- 
ment made with this instrument was before the students of Yale 
College, in the large hall there. It proved a perfect fiasco, and 
the audience was dismissed with the best apologies which could 
be invented for the failure, and a promise of better things " next 
time." Some trifling alterations were made, and a few days later 
an exhibition was given at the Opera House in New Haven, with 
such brilliant success, that a company was immediately organized 
for the construction and locating of telephones. The first ex- 
change established had only eight wires, and these were run to 
private houses of friends of the enterprise. It was not then antici- 
pated that it would be used for business purposes, but rather as a 
sort of adult plaything between friends and acquaintances. At 
first, instead of bells, electric buttons were used, such as are em- 
ployed for signaling servants at hotels. The interest excited by 
these proceedings in New Haven was very great, and much 
enthusiasm prevailed in that bright little city ; subscribers began 
to come in, while the reports given of this success in the local 
papers was soon spread everywhere abroad, exciting constant in- 
quiry, and stimulating others to similar experiments. It was not 
long before the original eight wires had increased to one hundred. 
Still it had not been applied to business transactions. 

At last the idea became general that it might be utilized for 
other purposes than mere social chatting, and subscribers began 
9 (129) 



I30 ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL. 

to pour into the office faster than the company could put up the 
wires. Then other cities began to clamor for it. First came Bos- 
ton and Lowell, then New York, Albany, Troy and Chicago ; in 
fact there was no longer any place in the country willing to wait 
for the wires to be placed. New York naturally takes the lead in 
the use of the telephone ; no business place is now considered fur- 
nished without one ; the towns and villages have followed the 
cities, and now it is difficult to find a hamlet anywhere in the Mid- 
dle, Northern or Western States without them. There has pro- 
bably never been an invention of any kind which has been so 
cordially and promptly adopted by a whole nation, as the tele- 
phone ; other inventions have had to fight their way by slow 
degrees into public favor ; but for this boon every one stood wait- 
ing with open hands — and ears. There are six factories in the 
United States making the Bell telephones, and all over-crowded 
with work ; enough orders are now in hand to occupy the present 
number of workmen for two years. Telephone factories have 
been established by Mr. Bell in England and France ; they are 
appreciated to a certain extent, but every one does not feel it 
necessary to introduce it into his office or house, as do our Ameri- 
can people ; the Europeans are naturally much slower in accepting 
novelties, no matter how useful, than are our own people. 

In England a Mr. Reis discovered the electric transmission' of 
speech in 1860-61. The late Marshall Jewell, of Hartford, Conn., 
was one of the first among the leading men of the State to invest 
money in the Bell telephone, and made a very handsome sum of 
money out of it ; fifteen per cent, was paid the first year, when 
of course the expenses were much heavier than after the plant 
was made, and the profits have been increasing ever since. 
Nearly all of the persons connected with Mr. Bell have become 
millionaires ; one of these, named Coy, has given up his interest 
in the Bell telephone and joined his fortunes to the United States 
Telephone Company ; but he made a million dollars first in the 
Bell instrument. Another of these fortunate men, who originally 



ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL. 131 

assisted Mr. Bell in his experiments, was "an old gray-haired 
mechanic," who had a little shop in New Haven, a maker of elec- 
trical instruments ; he was of great use to Bell, and the latter, not 
unmindful of his obligations to him, appointed him first General 
Inspector of the Bell Telephone Company for the United States ; 
and old Mr. Watson is now a millionaire, and his family have 
made the grand tour of Europe. 

Mr. Bell is not ungrateful. It is said that the true principle of 
his telephone was first realized by him while experimenting with 
an audiphone for his wife. 

Mr. Bell is about thirty-six years of age ; he has a decided Eng- 
lish accent, and possesses a very keen eye, indicative of cleverness 
and great energy. Mr. Edson, the United States, and others 
have either introduced improvements on the invention or involved 
him to some extent in litigation. But Mr. Bell would not be a 
poor man if he never planted another wire ; he is worth now over 
$6,000,000. 



GEORGE M. PULLMAN, j/ 

It might be an interesting question, were there any way of 
solving it, to ask how many of all the travellers who have jour- 
neyed in the luxurious Pullman cars, have ever thought of the 
inventor, or considered what manner of man he was ? Those who 
have heretofore known nothing of the inventor of the Pullman car 
may be surprised to learn that, as a practical philanthropist, he 
stands as a peer of any man in the United States, and though yet 
in middle life, has secured an immortality of fame by his model 
city on the plains of Illinois, built in the united interests of capital 
and labor. 

George M. Pullman was the third son of Mr. Lewis Pullman, of 
Chautauqua county, New York. He had some of the inventive 
faculty since displayed by his son George, and was the ingenious 
contriver of an apparatus for removing buildings, which gave him 
a somewhat extended reputation in Western New York. Young 
George made his first essay in business in the furniture trade, in 
the town of Albion, Orleans county. His father died while he was 
still a minor, and as there were younger children in the family than 
himself, he had to share with his elder brothers the responsibility 
of keeping the household together and assisting his mother; he 
did riot shirk the duty, and if it somewhat delayed his ambitious 
projects, the discipline of patient waiting was not altogether lost 
upon him. While still a young man, George Pullman became 
connected with the construction works of the Chicago and Alton 
Railroad. During 1855-6 some attempts had been made to intro- 
duce so-called sleeping-cars, but they were mostly very crude and 
unsatisfactory adaptations of the ordinary day-car to night service. 
Mr. Pullman's attention being aroused to the necessity of the 




GEO. PULLMAN. 



GEORGE M. PULLMAN. I 33 

\travelling public, brought his inventive faculties to bear on the 
construction of "sleepers" — cars in which people could really sleep. 
The result was two experimental cars, which Mr. Pullman con- 
structed, and which were put upon the Chicago and Alton road in 
1859. They were not the elegant masterpieces of art which we 
find all over the country to-day, but they were a vast improvement 
upon anything which had been produced previous to that time. 
Soon after this Mr. Pullman went to Colorado, where he was 
engaged for several years in mining affairs ; but he had not for- 
gotten his pet invention, and was gratified by learning that his 
cars had proved a great success ; but in the interim he had thought 
out many improvements which could be made upon those early 
experiments, and when, in 1863, he found himself able to give his 
time to the subject, and withal had secured the capital to carry 
out his ideas, he returned to Chicago, and took up the sleeping- 
car problem with renewed interest, and the determination to con- 
struct a car that should be as near perfection as human ingenuity 
could devise, and, above all, adapted to long, continuous journeys. 
His old sleepers were on the road until 1863, at which time the 
Pacific Railroad project was the constant theme of railroad men, 
and Mr. Pullman foresaw that the time was fast approaching when 
thousands of travellers would be demanding accommodation for a 
continuous journey of seven or eight days ; this want he was de- 
termined to anticipate. 

To plan and to put his thoughts into action were nearly simul- 
taneous movements with Mr. Pullman ; having prepared his draw- 
ings and models, he ordered a number of his new and improved 
sleepers to be constructed, which far exceeded in convenience and 
elegance of finish anything which had ever appeared in the shape 
of a railroad car. No expense was spared. The only question 
was whether such an expensive description of car would pay ; 
whether there were enough travellers able and willing to pay for 
the luxury of home comforts, while rolling over the country at 
the rate of forty or fifty miles an hour. The managers of the 



134 GEORGE M. PULLMAN. 

various roads in the West were very incredulous on this point, 
but it was Mr. Pullman's risk, not theirs, and they could afford to 
smile at his enthusiasm. But he was not dismayed, and, more- 
over, succeeded in making a contract with the "Chicago & Alton" 
and with the " Michigan Central " to run his new cars on those 
roads for the period of ten years. The managers were very much 
astonished at the great popularity which these cars immediately 
attained, and after the opening of the Union and Central Pacific 
roads Mr. Pullman found that his construction shops were unequal 
to the demand for the " palace cars." Shops were established in 
other cities farther east — for of course the eastern roads could not 
allow themselves to be outdone in the style of car furnished their 
patrons ; and the Pullman car made its way everywhere, except 
where contracts already existed with the rival line of the "Wagner 
palace cars." The first new shop was located in Detroit ; then 
another in St. Louis ; in Elmira ; in Philadelphia ; and then cross- 
ing the water, construction shops were planted in Derby, England, 
and at Brindisi in Italy: for though not as commonly used in 
Europe as here, there has been sufficient demand for them to 
justify these foreign establishments. The American demand 
has steadily increased, so that several of the shops have had to be 
enlarged; that in Detroit several times, until the year 1881 they 
turned out one hundred and fourteen cars. 

A few years ago Mr. Pullman conceived the idea of concen- 
trating this increasing business in one central position. Instead 
of establishing new sites, all of which could not of course come 
constantly under his own eye, he concluded to form one grand 
workshop, with space enough to expand to any amount required, 
and where he could watch the operations without extended journeys 
from the lake cities to the seaboard. 

Mr. Pullman's residence was and is in Chicago ; he therefore 
naturally looked in that vicinity for a location. Within the city 
limits, even if space could have been found, it was obvious that 
the value of the land would be too great to warrant its purchase; 



GEORGE M. PULLMAN. 



35 



for the purpose intended. Looking southward some dozen miles 
Mr. Pullman found a level stretch of land, low and swampy, large 
enough for all possible expansion of his factories, and which was 
held at a very low price. Ordinary speculators had looked upon it 
as nearly worthless, but Mr. Pullman saw its latent possibilities, 
under drainage and proper treatment, and he bought enough of 
this land to build a city — for this was his ulterior purpose. The 
first object was to secure ample space and verge enough for his 
gigantic workshops ; the next was to create accommodations for 
the thousands of workmen and their families on the spot. The 
land he had selected, now called " Pullman City," was in the vicinity 
of Lake Calumet, consisting principally of pine barrens and low, 
marshy flats. The first purchase was of three thousand acres, 
and on this he set hundreds of men to work clearing and draining 
it ; streets were laid out ; a system of drainage adopted ; gas 
pipes laid ; the streets perfectly graded and macadamized ; trees 
planted, etc. A sanitary engineer had been employed to oversee 
all this preliminary work, so as to secure, as far as was humanly 
possible, the future healthfulness of the place. Then came the 
architects, of whom Mr. Beaman of New York was selected to 
lay out and plan the buildings for the whole city, an opportunity 
which has happened to but one man before in the history of the 
country. Naturally the workshops received the first attention, and 
a prime object was to separate these completely, but not too far, 
from the residences yet to come. A broad thoroughfare, called 
the One Hundred and Eleventh street Boulevard, formed the 
dividing line ; the shops being north and the private houses south 
of this grand drive. The principal workshops consist of four long 
buildings, each three stories in height ; the central one having a 
high clock tower — all being distant from each other about seventy 
feet ; this partly as a precaution against fire. Beyond these, still 
to the north, are the great steam-heating works ; the hammer 
shops, the foundry, the electrotyping works, and the Allen Paper 
Car- Wheel Works. In this section is also situated the great 



I36 GEORGE M. PULLMAN. 

lumber depot and the tall water-tower, from whence is distributed 
pure, clear water from Lake Michigan, via a contract with the 
Hyde Park Water Works Company. 

In this direction, but nearer to the shore of Lake Calumet, is the 
gas-house. While these centres of industry were being erected 
hundreds of other workmen were being employed in the erection 
of homes for the laborers, and mechanics who were to fill these 
great shops as soon as the city was built. Fourteen hundred and 
twenty-six houses were put up before any man was asked to come 
to Pullman to work in the car-shops ! These were no flimsy 
wooden shanties, but neat, substantial brick houses, different in 
size and finish — the rents ranging from $6.50 to $65 per month ; 
the average rate at which a mechanic with a family could secure 
a nice, comfortable residence was about $14 per month; and the 
cheapest of these have plenty of air and light, and little garden 
plots to cheer the eye of the workman as he returns home after 
his day's work. 

Mr. Pullman repudiates the idea that he is a philanthropist, and 
claims that in laying out this city in a pleasant style he has operated 
simply on business principles, believing that men do not prefer 
dirt and squalor in crowded tenement houses if they can live in 
decency and self-respect on ordinary wages elsewhere. 

He has faith in the influence of neat and pleasant surroundings, 
and has had the courage of his convictions to the extent of laying 
out millions of dollars in this experiment of providing good and 
cheap homes for his employes. He argues that if a man is con- 
tented and comfortable in his home, he will be a more steady, 
contented, reliable workman ; but he also realizes that every 
human being needs some relief — some change from the monotony 
of even a comfortable home ; people want some form of recrea- 
tion and social intercourse, some refining and elevating influences 
outside of the workshop, and even the domestic circle ; hence, 
when the necessary residences were built, Mr. Pullman proceeded 
to provide reasonable forms of recreation for the inhabitants of 



GEORGE M. PULLMAN. 1 37 

his model city. Near the centre of the town is an open park 
called Arcade Square, on the west side of which is the grand Ar- 
cade building, which cost $25,000. It is of irregular height, but 
the main part contains two and a half stories. It is built of 
pressed brick and stone, with bands of black cement forming or- 
namental lines. Through the centre, running north and south, is 
an arcade twenty feet wide, and lighted by a glass sky-light cover- 
ing the entire length of the court. Within, on the lower floor, are 
some thirty large retail stores ; the post-office occupying a central 
position in the arcade ; this main courtway is always dry and clean, 
being paved with smooth tiling. On the second floor are broad 
promenade balconies, at one point opening into the public library. 
This floor also accommodates the Pullman City Bank, a well-man- 
aged billiard-room, the office of the city architect, and some other 
offices. The bank is conducted, like all else in this place, by offi- 
cers selected from among the largest stockholders of the Pullman 
Car Company: it has a capital stock of $100,000, and includes a 
" savings " department for the benefit of workmen and others. 
The library now contains about ten thousand volumes, nearly all 
the gift of Mr. Pullman ; this fine room is entered from the arcade 
balcony through wide double-closed doors ; the finishing of the 
interior and the furnishing of the room give an air of ease and 
comfort to the place quite inviting ; large easy black wicker-work 
chairs, covered with plush, six large chandeliers, stained-glass 
transoms to the ample windows, artistically treated walls and ceil- 
ings, files of papers and periodicals, and an accommodating lady 
librarian, make this one of the most attractive spots in Pullman. 

A little to the north of the Arcade Square is the Hotel Flor- 
ence, named in honor of. Mr. Pullman's young daughter. This 
structure faces the track of the Illinois Central Railroad and the 
handsome One Hundred and Eleventh street Boulevard. Mr. 
Pullman rightly judged that the fame of his novel city would bring 
many visitors there, and he meant they should be well enough ac- 
commodated not to wish to hurry away. The material of which 



I38 GEORGE M. PULLMAN. 

this hotel is built is similar to that used in the arcade : the interior 
is mainly finished in light woods, and in the office is a wide, open 
fireplace, giving an idea of home comfort and a generous hospitality. 
This hotel contains all the modern appurtenances and conveniences 
of the best hotels of the country ; the main parlor is elegantly and 
richly furnished, the dining-room is very pleasant to the eye, and 
there are seventy-five great chambers, each having automatic an- 
nunciators, fire-alarms, hot and cold water, with every requisite for 
comfort. 

South of the arcade building, on One Hundred and Twelfth 
street, are the headquarters of the fire department; it is, like 
nearly all of the buildings in the place, of brick, and is built in a 
very substantial manner ; it has stalls for eight horses ; the truck- 
house is near by, where the chief has his room, and the firemen 
sleep above in the second story. Here a man-hole is cut, and on 
an alarm of fire the men instantly slide down a brass rod in the 
most approved modern style, so that no time is lost or risk in- 
curred. The health and safety of the city having been thus pro- 
vided for, with homes for the workmen, Mr. Pullman's next 
thought was for the welfare of the children ; he therefore caused 
the erection of a large school-house, three stories in height — an 
attractive-looking building and admirably arranged within. Each 
floor is divided into four large, well-lit, and well-ventilated rooms, 
with dressing and cloak-rooms attached to each ; everything with- 
in is light and cheerful, and the stairs are unusually substantial ; 
but even Rome was not built in a day, and with all Mr. Pullman's 
good intentions and prompt despatch of business this department 
of instruction lacks some features which its founder intends to add 
as soon as practicable. In addition to the ordinary school routine 
Mr. Pullman intends to establish an industrial and polytechnic 
school, where the practical forms of trade and the arts may be 
learned. 

Whether a new building will be erected for this purpose or 
whether the now vacant, but large and commodious, upper stories 



GEORGE M. PULLMAN. 1 39 

of the great water-tower building, two hundred feet high, will be 
utilized for the purpose, remains to be decided. When providing 
for the whole nature of man, as Mr. Pullman evidently means to 
do in his "Arcadian City," a transition from the provision for sec- 
ular and intellectual needs to the religious is quite in order, and 
has not been overlooked by this comprehensive practical philoso- 
pher. On the corner of Stephenson and One Hundred and 
Twelfth streets there has been erected a beautiful little Gothic 
church. To distinguish this from all the secular buildings great 
care was taken to select a suitable and beautiful material : for this 
the architect imported a fine greenish serpentine stone from the 
Pennsylvania quarries, the tone of which harmonizes with, instead 
of neutralizing, the adjacent buildings. An elegantly shaped 
steeple rises one hundred and fifty-six feet into the air, and in this 
tower the liberal spirit of Mr. Pullman has placed a perfect chime 
of bells. The interior of this edifice is worthy of the purpose to 
which it is devoted ; .the walls are tinted in soft aesthetic hues ; the 
woodwork is of highly polished oak, and on the southerly end, 
opposite the pulpit, is a very large circular ornately stained-glass 
window. In the rear of the pulpit is an organ, which cost $3,500. 
The beautiful parsonage is connected with the church by an artis- 
tic stone causeway, formed by a series of arches resting on solid 
stone columns. The church, including the organ, cost $48,500. 
This ecclesiastical ornament to the city was not built to forward 
any sectarian views of the founder, for when completed the church 
was offered to whatever denomination was in majority, or in fact 
to any organization of Christians who desired to hire it. 

There has been organized among the young men of Pullman a 
military association called the Pullman Home Guards, principally 
composed of Mr. Pullman's employes ; there, is also an athletic 
club, a bowling and cricket club, rowing and sailing associations, 
in all of which Mr. Pullman has been an efficient aider. Calumet 
Lake, on the west shore of which the city lies, is a piece of water 
about three miles long by a mile and a half wide, and it is con- 



I40 GEORGE M. PULLMAN. 

nected with Lake Michigan by a navigable stream called the Calu- 
met river, and dredging has already commenced for deepening the 
channel for the admission of the largest lake vessels. Slip-docks 
are also among the improvements of the lake shore. 

It is impossible to notice in a brief sketch like this all the points 
of interest concentrated in this new city of Pullman, but there is 
one object, a monster engine, which cannot be ignored by any one 
interested in mechanics or steam-power. This is the large Cor- 
liss engine, which proved the great centre of attraction in the 
mechanical department of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadel- 
phia. It was transported to Pullman in sections, occupying thirty- 
five freight cars; it weighs 1,369,588 pounds, and has a capacity 
of 2,400 horse-power. Its main driving-shaft, which is nine inches 
in diameter, extends 600 feet in a tunnel constructed for it under 
one of* the principal workshops, and moves, by the aid of belts and 
gear-wheels, all the machinery upon the three floors of the monster 
building. 

In a suburb of the city, called North Pullman, is the great iron- 
foundry which, with its 750 workmen, forms almost an inde- 
pendent community ; these works can turn out 350 car-wheels per 
day, besides seventy-five tons of other casting required in the 
manufacture of cars or for architectural uses. The paper car- 
wheel works are more curious, because more of a novelty ; the 
process consists of compressing by hydraulic force coarse brown- 
paper pulp (with a certain percentage of wood-fibre intermixed) 
to the density and solidity of boxwood. These wheels are then 
pressed into a steel tire and cross-bolted with iron bolts ; they are 
said to wear better than solid iron, and are used exclusively by 
the Pullman Company for their palace-cars ; the capacity of the 
factory is about 12,000 wheels annually. 

The Pullman Company are not specially engaged in the con- 
struction of palace-cars : they build every grade of car, from the 
ordinary freight-car to the most elaborate and beautifully finished, 
every part of the work being made from raw material on the spot, 



GEORGE M. PULLMAN. 141 

each department carrying on a certain part of the work, and then 
transferring it to another, until from the " finishing-shop " it 
emerges a perfectly furnished car, ready for immediate use on the 
rail. 

When almost everything else had been thought of to make 
Pullman an attractive place — when circles of flowers had been 
planted round the trees, fountains erected in Arcade Square and 
elsewhere, schools, library, and church provided, Mr. Pullman 
decided to furnish a higher grade of recreation for such of the 
community as craved it, more intellectual than boat-clubs or 
billiard-table. There was yet a corner of the arcade building 
unappropriated. The west wing was therefore fitted up for a 
theatre, at a cost of $35,000. It has a seating capacity of 1,000. 
Mr. Pullman, through his general manager, maintains a degree of 
supervision over this cosy little temple of dramatic art, and care 
is taken that nothing in the slightest degree objectionable to man- 
ners or morals shall be put upon the stage. The formal opening 
took place upon the 9th of January, 1883, when the Hon. Stewart 
L. Woodford, of New York, made an eloquent inaugural address 
before a company of invited guests from Chicago, who had filled 
six palace- cars, composed of the elite of the great city of the 
West. 

A cardinal point in Mr. Pullman's management is the absence 
of groggeries in Pullman ; every honest tradesman may come there 
who has anything to sell which will nourish or clothe the body, or 
furnish reasonable recreation for the mind, but for the liquor- 
dealer there is no place. Mr. Pullman has more faith in good, 
healthful food, and enough of it to sustain the strength of laborers, 
than in artificial stimulants, and he says he wants sober workmen, 
who alone are or can be faithful, and he rightly judges that if a 
man fancies that he needs liquor, he will be apt to get over the 
habit of tippling much quicker if he has to walk several miles to 
get liquor, than if he passed a saloon every time he came to or 
returned from his work. 



142 GEORGE M. PULLMAN. 

It has been asked : " Who controls this city of seven or eight 
thousand people? There is no corporate government; there 
are no policemen, no constables, no courts, no visible form of 
authority, and yet these people all live orderly, quietly, honestly ; 
there has never been an arrest in Pullman. The only court of 
appeal is George M. Pullman ; but apparently there are no appel- 
lants ; everything has hitherto worked as smoothly as in a well- 
ordered family. If a person wants to go there to live he applies 
to the superintendent (appointed by Mr. Pullman). A lease is 
drawn up, which may be cancelled by either party on ten days' 
notice, and he will not be disturbed unless he attempts to sell 
liquor. If he wishes to leave he has only to give his ten days' 
notice. The hotel is run by a person hired by Mr. Pullman, and 
in fact there is no other authority there, and he succeeds because 
he does not attempt to interfere with any one's rights; there are no 
restrictions (excepting only against liquor), the people are indus- 
trious, are promptly paid what they earn, innocent recreations are 
encouraged, and every workman knows that there is not another 
place in the country where he could have as good accommodation, 
and the benefit of so many privileges for his money ; and there- 
fore he is satisfied to remain. Mr. Pullman intends shortly to 
introduce some manufactures suitable for the employment of young 
girls and women ; in fact, we have not seen the end of this 
remarkable experiment, »or of Mr. Pullman's devices for the benefit 
of his peculiarly fortunate work-people. He ought to be a happy 
man, for he has certainly been the means of opening up a life of 
happiness to thousands. He resides usually in a truly palatial 
residence on Eighteenth street, Chicago, and has also elegant 
summer residences on the St. Lawrence river and at Long Branch. 
His fortune, which is still enlarging, is estimated at $20,000,000. 
Much of this is invested in the Pullman Car Company, but his real 
estate is also very considerable, exclusive of the new city we have 
partially described. The latest quotation of Pullman Car stock 
was 115, and it has been as high as 146. In January, 1884, a 



GEORGE M. PULLMAN. 1 43 

quarterly dividend of two per cent, was declared. One of Mr. 
Pullman's brothers, Arthur B., is Vice-President of the Pullman 
Palace-Car Company, and his eldest brother is the well-known 
and very popular pastor, the Rev. R. H. Pullman, of the Second 
Universalist Church in Baltimore, and his brother, James M., is the 
still more widely-known and highly-respected pastor of the Uni- 
versalist " Church of Our Saviour," in New York city ; another 
brother, Frank W., was, previous to 1880, Assistant District- 
Attorney in New York city, where the mother of these remarkably 
enterprising sons and of other children still lives. Certainly the 
name of Pullman is destined to become one which will be grate- 
fully remembered by thousands of people scattered all over the 
United States, nowhere more so than in Pullman City, Illinois. 



CYRUS W. FIELD. 

Probably no name of any living citizen of the United States 
(with the one exception of General Grant's) is better known in 
Europe and throughout the civilized world than that of Cyrus 
West Field. As the most active projector of the Atlantic cable, 
this name has become the synonym of all that is enterprising, auda- 
cious and persevering in the business interests of two hemispheres. 
His fame is international, as was the great work over which he 
spent over twelve years of his life, and in the prosecution of which 
he crossed the Atlantic thirty times. 

Mr. Field is now in his sixty-fifth year, having been born in 
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on the 30th of November, 1819. The 
family have produced several members of superior capacity and 
attainment. His father, Rev. David Dudley Field, was a divine of 
extended reputation in and beyond his own State. Cyrus is not 
the only one of seven brothers who have done credit to the train- 
ing of the paternal clergyman and the common schools of Massa- 
chusetts. The eldest son of this family, named for his father, 
David Dudley, is the eminent lawyer who has lately been a con- 
spicuous figure in the State as the principal compiler of the " new 
code " of procedure in the several law courts of the State of New 
York. Another brother, Stephen Johnson Field, holds the honora- 
ble position of Justice of the Supreme Court of California, his 
decisions being recognized by the profession, everywhere through- 
out the country, as those of a careful, clear-sighted jurist. Jonathan 
Edwards, also a lawyer, stands at the head of the bar in Stock- 
bridge and all that section of the State in which his native place 
is located ; he has also been a senator and otherwise taken an 
active part in politics. Henry adopted his father's profession ; was 
(144) 




CYRUS W. FIELD. 



CYRUS W. FIELD. 1 45 

for some years pastor of a church in St. Louis, Missouri, and sub- 
sequently in West Springfield, Massachusetts. He is now a 
doctor of divinity, and edits a well-known religious paper, " The 
Evangelist." It was he who wrote the book giving a full and 
correct history of the Atlantic cable enterprise. He is recognized 
as a man of marked literary ability. Matthew D. became a civil 
engineer. His talents are recognized both in political and busi- 
ness circles. He was elected to the State senate of Massachusetts, 
representing probably as intellectual a constituency as any in his 
State outside of Boston. As a legislator and a practical man he 
has been equally successful, much of his property consisting of a 
valuable lead mine in the vicinity of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. 
One of the brothers, Timothy, entered the United States Navy, 
but was unfortunately lost at sea while still a midshipman. 

Cyrus was the only one of the brothers who developed a taste 
for mercantile life ; but this he had early resolved upon. In 1835, 
when only sixteen, he came to New York, and, through the good 
offices of his brother David D., who was already established in the 
city, procured a situation in the store of the late Alexander T. 
Stewart, to whom he was apprenticed, as was the custom then. He 
received a salary of two dollars per week, and was obliged to be 
first at the store in the morning to sweep it out. He continued 
with Mr. Stewart until near his majority ; but, not being particu- 
larly charmed with the dry-goods business, he returned to Massa- 
chusetts and started a paper manufactory in the town of Westfield. 
This was in 1840, and he was not yet quite of age. And about 
this time he also married-^a Miss Mary Bryant Stone, of Millfort, 
Connecticut. He continued his paper factory for about two years, 
then transferred it to other hands and proceeded to New York and 
opened a paper warehouse. This did not prove a success, and in 
a short time he failed, but succeeded in effecting a compromise 
with his creditors, by which he was enabled to re-establish the 
business. His experience had been dearly bought, but he was just 

the man to profit by it. Whatever errors he had made in his first 
10 



I46 CYRUS W. FIELD. 

essay he now retrieved ; everything prospered, and in the course 
of a dozen years he had realized so ample a fortune that he made 
up his mind to retire from active business, not, however, before 
doing justice to his old creditors, who had so generously released 
him from all legal obligations. To each of these he sent his check 
for the full amount of the ancient indebtedness, and then giving 
up the business into the hands of his brother-in-law, Mr. Stone, he 
enjoyed the first months of his release from work in a pleasant 
and romantic journey to South America in company with the cele- 
brated landscape artist, Mr. Frederick Church. The route they 
took was perfectly unhackneyed. Few travellers, and those mainly 
on business, have directed their attention to Central America and 
the great continent lying south of it. 

Mr. Field first visited Carthage na, at the mouth of the Magda- 
lena river, then Houda and Bogota, subsequently crossing the 
Andes to Quito, and from thence travelling overland to Guaya- 
quil ; from whence they took the steamer to Panama, crossed the 
isthmus to Aspinwall, returning to New York, after an absence of 
six months, happily in time to participate in the joyful festivities of 
his parents' golden wedding. 

Scarcely had Mr. Field realized that he was at home again than 
he was solicited by his brother Matthew, the engineer, to accord 
an interview to Mr. Frederick N. Gibson, of Newfoundland, who 
had conceived a plan for the more rapid transmission of news be- 
tween Europe and the United States. Mr. Field was at first very 
much adverse to entangling himself with new business projects, 
but finally consented to see Mr. Gibson. The plan of the latter 
was to establish telegraphic communication between New York 
and London via St. Johns, Newfoundland, from the latter point 
despatching swift steamers to London or Liverpool, which were 
expected to make the voyage in five or six days. He represented 
the " Electric Telegraph Company of Newfoundland." Mr. Cyrus 
Field listened to his very enthusiastic visitor with close attention, 
but without committing himself to the project. But, after the 



CYRUS W. FIELD. 1 47 

latter had left, he thought the matter over, took out his maps and 
charts, consulted the large globe which always stood in his study, 
and began to mentally estimate the cost and difficulties of the 
plan, when suddenly, as if by an external inspiration, the idea came 
to him : " Instead of these swift steamers, which after all will con- 
sume one hundred and fifty hours in the voyage, why not run an 
electric wire through the ocean itself — instead of ending it at St. 
Johns ? " This thought, he says, thrilled through him like a verita- 
ble shock of electricity, and he could hardly contain himself until 
he had sought the opinion of persons more practically acquainted 
with the science of electricity, and with the conformation of the 
ocean-bed, than he was at that time. 

His first impulse was to see Prof. Morse, the father of modern 
telegraphy, and to get his opinion upon the feasibility of transmit- 
ting the electric spark for so great a distance under water ; and 
almost simultaneously with this inquiry did he seek information 
from Prof. Maury, then of the Naval Observatory in Washington, 
as to the nature of the ocean-bed, to the keeping of which the 
previous wire must finally be committed. From both he received 
favorable answers, but was at the same time somewhat surprised 
to learn that the idea was not original with himself. Lieutenant 
Maury himself had already broached the opinion that this might 
be done, in a report which he had just submitted to the Secretary 
of the Navy. Being thus assured by the best authority extant of 
the feasibility of the plan, he became thoroughly interested in the 
project, perceiving at a glance the immense benefit which would 
accrue to the country could such communication be established. 
Mr. David D. Field was consulted as to the legal questions which 
might arise, and finding that he, too, favored the idea, Cyrus W. 
j-esolved at once to try and interest a sufficient number of capital- 
ists in the project to enable the company to make a practical 
beginning. 

Mr. Field's nearest neighbor was the amiable and benevolent 
Peter Cooper, a man capable of understanding and appreciating 



I48 CYRUS W. FIELD. 

the proposed undertaking-, and it was no very difficult task to enlist 
his sympathy and aid for the Atlantic cable. A company was 
shortly thereafter formed, consisting of Mr. Peter Cooper (Presi- 
dent), Moses Taylor, Marshall O. Roberts, Chandler White and 
Mr. Field ; and subsequently Mr. Wilson G. Hunt. Cyrus Field's 
first plan had been to try and enlist ten men, who should each 
subscribe $100,000, but these not coming readily forward, Mr. 
Cooper proposed to the gentlemen above named that they should 
make up the sum needed among themselves, and not wait for 
other recruits; these agreed to put in the money, but on Mr. Field 
fell the main burden of the work to be done. 

First in order was the purchase of the rights and privileges of 
the moribund Electric Telegraph Company, with the consent of the 
legislature of Newfoundland, which was negotiated by him ; the 
new company being organized in May, 1854, with a capital of 
$1,500,000. Two brothers of Cyrus Field were employed by the 
company; David D. as counsel and Matthew as constructive en- 
gineer, for the building of the land line through Newfoundland ; 
while Cyrus Field took upon himself the mission to England to 
order the construction of a submarine cable which was required to 
cross the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape Ray and the island of 
Cape Breton, in the direction of the proposed terminal point of the 
Atlantic cable — St. Johns. In the summer of 1855 an attempt was 
made to lay the cable manufactured in England across the gulf, 
but the failure was complete, as it slipped from the control of the 
operator and was lost. Nothing daunted, another was procured, 
and successfully laid the next season. The work on the land, in 
cutting through a road and setting up telegraph poles, was partic- 
ularly tedious and laborious. Newfoundland is 400 miles across, 
and nearly the whole distance was then in its primeval condition, 
lakes, streams, morasses, forests, had to be overcome and cleared, 
and all the material used in the construction had to be brought by 
boat and teams from St. Johns. Yet, so energetically was the 
work pushed, that in two years both road and telegraph line was 



CYRUS W. FIELD. 1 49 

completed. In the meanwhile Mr. Field visited England, to secure 
not only the necessary permission to occupy British territory for 
the termini of the cable, but to enlist the aid and co-operation of 
the government. In this he was eminently successful ; not only 
was capital ready to invest, but the cordial sympathy of the Queen 
and her councillors was accorded. The shares of money which it 
was hoped could be placed in England, had been divided into 
35° °f £ l >°oo each. These were all disposed of in a few weeks ; 
London took 101, Liverpool eighty-six, Glasgow thirty-seven, 
Manchester twenty-eight, and other places the balance. Mr. Field 
became responsible for eighty-eight; but most of these he expected 
to dispose of in the United States. 

The British government met the view of Mr. Field more readily 
and fully than even his sanguine mind had anticipated. Her 
Majesty's advisers agreed to provide ships not only for surveying 
and making the necessary soundings, but also to assist in laying 
the cable. The very liberal treaty made with the Atlantic Tele- 
graph Company, through Mr. Field's negotiations, contained a 
clause by which the English government promised to pay an annual 
subsidy of ,£14,000 for the use of the cable, until such time as the 
company should be able to pay dividends of six pounds on the 
hundred, when the subsidy be reduced to ,£10,000 per annum for 
the ensuing twenty-five years. In all other ways, the most prac- 
tical assistance was offered and rendered to the project. 

While in England, Mr. Field consulted with John W. Brett, who 
had successfully extended the submarine cable between Dover and 
Calais, and obtained from him and other experienced engineers 
and electricians many valuable suggestions. Having succeeded so 
well in England, and made a contract for the construction of the 
great cable, Mr. Field returned to the United States, and proceeded 
to Washington, for the purpose of enlisting the official aid of the 
government. Strange to say, he was met with far more coldness 
than in England ; the lobby was against him. The bill providing 
for the aid of the government only passed the Senate by one vote, 



I5O CYRUS W. FIELD. 

and in the House by an absurdly small majority ; but passed it 
was, after a hard fight, and received the signature of President 
Buchanan on the 3d of March, 1857. 

All now looked prosperous for the company, and Mr. Field 
hurried back to watch, over the completion of the cable and its 
stowage in the vessels appointed to receive it. These were the 
United States ships " Niagara " on the one side, and the "Aga- 
memnon," of the Royal Navy, on the other, each having a tender 
or escort. The cable had been made in two sections ; the 
" Niagara " received her moiety at Liverpool, the "Agamemnon " 
hers at London. It was arranged that the American vessel should 
lay the eastern portion and the English the western. The start- 
ing-point was Valentia, a small town on the west coast of Ireland, 
until then remaining in the utmost obscurity, but by the choice of 
the telegraph company brought into sudden and permanent noto- 
riety. This scientific fleet of four vessels left the harbor with the 
precious cable aboard on the 6th of August, 1857. Mr. Field was 
on board of the " Niagara ; " the shore end had been laid the pre- 
vious day. Professor Morse and other electricians accompanied 
Mr. Field to watch the execution of the enterprise. How is it 
possible to describe the hopes, fears and anxieties of that little 
group of friends ? But it was not alone Mr. Field and the scien- 
tists who were deeply interested. If there was one indifferent 
person on board when the expedition started there was soon none, 
from the commander to the lowest hand employed on the ship, 
that did not become participators in the general interest for the 
success of the experiment ; and as the hours and days wore on, 
while the " paying-out machine " kept up its steady revolutions, 
and fathom after fathom of the great cable passed over the side 
of the " Niagara " and slipped into the silent sea, every one on 
board began to feel not only the pressure of a great responsibility, 
but a sort of human interest in the cable itself, as if it were a thing 
of life, which was thus being thrust overboard to fulfil its destiny — 
a consecrated sacrifice to the spirit of the age. An eye-witness 



CYRUS W. FIELD. 1 5 1 

on the "Niagara" has eloquently described the feeling of subdued 
solemnity, which gradually took possession of the whole ship's 
company ; and when the great calamity came, and by the too sud- 
den application of a break the cable snapped, parted, and wholly 
disappeared beneath the waves, the shock was almost too great 
for the firmest nerves, and all felt as if a cherished comrade had 
just slipped the cable of life, and gone to make his grave beneath 
the deep waters until the sea shall give up its dead. 

But of all that sad company Mr. Field was the least dismayed; 
he recognized the accident as simply the result of inexperience, 
and as in no way militating against the accepted possibility of lay- 
ing an ocean cable — a minor detail in practice, with a very expen- 
sive result indeed, but in no way affecting the theory of the scien- 
tists, and not a necessary or inevitable fault likely to be repeated. 
The lateness of the season, however, precluded the idea of repair- 
ing the accident, so as to continue the work for that year. The 
fleet returned to England, and Mr. Field immediately gave orders 
for the construction of seven hundred additional miles of cable to 
replace what was lost. It was easier to do this than to satisfy the 
fears of some of the more timid stockholders, but as there was no 
one ready to buy Atlantic telegraph stock on the heels of such a 
disaster, they were obliged to keep it. Mr. Field had been vice- 
president of the company for some time, and in January, 1858, he 
was invited by the directors to accept the position of general 
manager with a salary of $5,000 per annum. He accepted the 
position but declined t the salary. 

In March of this year the second attempt was made to lay the 
cable. The " Niagara " was once more despatched to England to 
take up her share of the work, but this time without her tender, 
the " Susquehanna," nor did the United States furnish any substi- 
tute. Mr. Field considered the presence of a second vessel indis- 
pensable, but there being no prospect of his obtaining one here, he 
frankly described his dilemma to the lords of the British admiralty, 
who consented to furnish a tender, the " Valorous," as a consort 



T52 CYRUS W. FIELD. 

to the " Niagara," in addition to the two originally furnished, thus 
providing three out of the four vessels engaged in the work. This 
was the more appreciated as the British government was at that 
time in need of transports, and was chartering them to send troops 
to Malta. 

The telegraphic fleet was once more started for mid-ocean ; this 
time leaving Plymouth, England, on the 29th of May, 1858, first, 
however, going to the rough waters of the Bay of Biscay to try 
some experiments. During all this time Mr. Field's activity ap- 
peared almost to exceed the bounds of human endurance, and 
seriously alarmed his friends, lest he and the new experiment 
should break down together. Many were the successive twenty- 
four hours in which he had no sleep, except such naps as he would 
catch in an English or French railway car. But faith in the final 
success bore him up. On the 10th of June the work of relaying 
the cable commenced, but another disappointment was in store 
for the stockholders and Mr. Field. About two hundred miles of 
cable had been safely placed on old ocean's bed, when it broke as 
did the former one, and once more the labor of months was re- 
morselessly swallowed up by the sea. The defect this time 
appeared to be in the construction of the cable itself, as it was re- 
paired several times and finally abandoned. 

Of course it required all of Mr. Field's eloquence to induce the 
directors to make another essay ; he himself was greatly chagrined 
at the failure ; but he still saw that the difficulties to be overcome 
were not insurmountable, and that perseverance would finally 
win. Again the fleet left Oueenstown, on the 1 7th July, making 
their rendezvous in mid-ocean on the 28th ; the next day the cables 
on the "Agamemnon " and the "Niagara" were spliced, and the 
steamers once more parted company, the "Agamemnon " trailing 
her share of the cable towards Valentia, the " Niagara " hers to- 
wards Trinity Bay. Each vessel reached its destination within a 
few hours of each other on the 5th of August. Signals were passed 
and repassed over the whole length, and the enterprise seemed 



CYRUS W. FIELD. 



153 



finally to be rewarded with success. Messages were exchanged 
between the Queen and President Buchan-an ; general rejoicings 
were in order ; a public reception was given to Mr. Fields. The 
event was celebrated in New York and other cities ; and for nearly 
four weeks the cable worked perfectly ; then came a sudden stop. 
On the 1 st of September it refused to respond, and the general disap- 
pointment was as great as the elation had been, and probably more 
extended, as many thought no further effort would ever be made. 
But this class miscalculated the pertinacity of English endurance 
and the irrepressibility of American pluck. 

At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce in New York, a gen- 
tleman present presumed to assert his belief that the cable had 
never worked. Mr. Cunard, of the British Steamship line, who also 
happened to be there, immediately arose and vehemently denounced 
the statement as false, adding, " I have myself sent messages 
and received replies/' Only one or two others besides Mr. Field 
retained any confidence that the difficulties of ocean telegraphy 
could ever be overcome ; but Cyrus W. Field knew no such word 
as " fail." Perceiving, however, that he could not under the cir- 
cumstances hope to obtain additional private subscriptions, he ap- 
pealed once more to the British government to come to the rescue 
of the great work of the century. And although their own " Red 
Sea Cable " had recently failed, yet they agreed to aid the Atlan- 
tic Telegraph Company by increasing their annual subsidy to the 
large figure of ^20,000, and in addition to guarantee eight per 
cent, dividends on a new capital of ^"600,000 for twenty-five years. 
The British government did more than this: it sent out another 
vessel to take more exact soundings, and to explore carefully 
the ocean bed in the latitude where the cable was to lie, and 
created a commission of scientific men to examine the whole sub- 
ject of sub-marine telegraphy anew — including the construction 
of the cable itself, and the machinery for paying it out. This com- 
mission reported that the enterprise was entirely feasible if suffi- 
cient care was exercised over all the details by competent persons. 



154 CYRUS W. FIELD. 

This report put new life into the Board of Directors, Mr. Field 
all the time working to that end. He also labored to popularize 
the idea, addressing many public meetings and striving to interest 
capitalists in another effort. In the meantime, the outbreak of the 
civil war stopped all hope of enlisting private money in the 
work ; here the United States government, however, as the war 
progressed, became more alive to the necessity of speedy communi- 
cation with Europe, and Mr. Field had no difficulty in securing 
from President Lincoln the promise of active aid in this important 
international work. Little progress, however, was made until 1863, 
when proposals were made for the construction of a new cable; 
nearly a score of firms put in bids for the work, which was finally 
awarded to Gloss, Elliot & Co., of London. This cable was com- 
pleted during the year 1864-5, and the sum of ,£600,000 was 
raised for the company, mainly through the instrumentality of Mr. 
Field. On this occasion but one vessel was employed to bear 
the cable — but that was the " Great Eastern." 

In this instance, the start was not from Valentia, but the neigh- 
boring port of Foilhommerum Bay. It was on the 23d of July, 
1865, that the land connection was made and the great ship com- 
menced her momentous voyage, bearing more vital interests than 
" Caesar and his fortunes." Day by day the great wheel turned, 
and fathom after fathom of the new cable was heavier and more 
carefully insulated than its predecessors, slipped overboard into 
the sea, and so the work went bravely on for 1 2,000 miles, but when 
approaching Newfoundland the old misfortune recurred ; in spite of 
all the care and watchfulness, it broke and disappeared under the 
waves. But the engineer hoped to recover it, and instead of imme- 
diately abandoning the work, as had been done under simitar cir- 
cumstances before, it was decided to keep the vessel in the course 
where the cable had sunk and grapple for it. Grapnels of two 
miles in length were cast overboard and several times caught the 
cable and brought it nearly to the surface, and when it seemed 
almost within reach once more, the great strain was too much for the 



CYRUS W. FIELD. 155 

grapnels, and they broke ; thus after striving for nearly ten days 
to recover the cable, and seeing that this could not be done with- 
out more perfect machinery, the spot where it had disappeared 
was marked with buoys; the "Great Eastern" put back to Eng- 
land, carrying her own news of this last disaster. It was deemed 
too late to make another effort that season ; once more additional 
funds had to be raised and faith in ultimate success created. 

This time it was thought best to organize an entirely new com- 
pany to be called the Anglo-American Telegraph Company. For 
some reason capitalists appeared more ready to subscribe than 
formerly ; but Mr. Field showed his irrepressible confidence by 
taking ,£10,000 worth of stock — the whole capital being 
,£600,000. This new company made an agreement with the old 
Atlantic Cable Company to furnish a new cable, and to lay it 
during the summer of i865 ; for it was decided not only to try and 
recover the old, but to make assurance doubly sure by providing 
a second. Of course with every experiment thus far made, some- 
thing new had been learned, and in July, 1866, after the most 
elaborate and careful preparation of the vessel and machinery to 
be employed, the expedition started on Friday the 13th, the 
" Great Eastern " being again employed. The weather was favor- 
able ; the ship's progress was at the rate of one hundred and 
eighteen miles a day, while the length of cable paid out was thir- 
teen miles in excess of the speed of the vessel. Captain Ander- 
son of the " Great Eastern " had so arranged the departure of the 
expedition, that he would have the benefit of the full moon as they 
should approach soundings off the coast of Newfoundland. Every- 
thing this time had worked smoothly ; as the voyage drew towards 
its termination the anxiety of all concerned was at its utmost ten- 
sion ; another accident would have seemed too much for human 
nature to bear. Constant communication had been kept up with 
England through the cable from day to day, so that there the 
company and the community were kept apprised of the progress 
made, but on this side of the Atlantic all was in doubt and dark- 



156 CYRUS W. FIELD. 

ness, and the most sanguine hardly dared to hope. It was known 
that if all went well the western end of the cable would be landed 
at Hearts Content, in Newfoundland, and many hoping, yet fear- 
ing, had gone there from various parts of the country to witness 
the arrival of the "Great Eastern." Some had been there for 
days before the ship could reasonably have been expected, and 
since the 25th of July the shore had been fringed with visitors, 
opera, marine or common spy-glass in hand, watching the eastern 
horizon for the anxiously awaited steamer. Many were the false 
alarms raised as some moving speck was descried in the distance: 
an illusive coaster or some other westward-bound vessel. Four- 
teen days more away; it is again Friday morning, the 27th day of 
July, 1866. Here at last she comes ! early in the morning: her im- 
mense proportions, when she at last appears, make the gazers 
wonder how they could have mistaken any other craft for her. As 
she draws nearer the people see that her colors are all set, 
which at least indicates that they have met with no disaster. 
With every mile's advance of the steamer the excitement grew. 
Too impatient to wait the arrival, scores of boats put off to row 
toward her. The tender, the "Albany," is in the van ; the " Terri- 
ble " close behind, while the " Midway " keeps close to the " Great 
Eastern," and a delay of nearly two hours occurs while the latter 
connects the heavy shore end with the main cable, and at last the 
two continents are united. Still New York and Washington knew 
nothing of all this ; unfortunately the cable across the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence was disabled, and it was not until Sunday, the 29th, that 
this was repaired, and the heart-cheering intelligence announced 
to the nation, by Cyrus Field, the accomplishment of his and their 
great hopes ! This was the first message : 

"Hearts Content, July 27th. We arrived here at nine o'clock 
this morning. All well. Thank God, the cable is laid, and is in 
perfect working order. Cyrus W. Field." 

Almost immediately the " Great Eastern " again put to sea, and, 
proceeding to where the cable of 1865 had been lost, succeeded 



CYRUS W. FIELD. 1 57 

without much trouble in grappling it and bringing it to the sur- 
face. It was tested by sending a message to Valentia ; and being 
found perfect was spliced to an additional section, which was 
brought to Newfoundland, and both of these cables have been in 
constant use to the present time. 

If ever a man needed and deserved a rest that man was Cyrus 
W. Field. For thirteen years he had borne the brunt of all the 
sneers, and jokes, and doubts in good faith, which had assailed the 
enterprise. Other persons had their share in the great work. 
Every capitalist who bought a share of the stock should have his 
praise. The English manufacturers of the cable itself, and 
machinery, did their utmost to deserve success. The British gov- 
ernment did nobly, in aiding the enterprise with subsidies and 
ships, and a few staunch friends like Peter Cooper and Marshall 
O. Roberts helped to sustain the courage of the more faithless ; 
but it looked many times through those thirteen years of struggle, 
that had it not been for the unflagging courage and indomitable 
perseverance of Cyrus West Field, that the project would have 
been abandoned. 

The interest of Mr. Field has never ceased in all that relates to 
this greatest work of the century. But some years ago he deter- 
mined to leave for a while the distracting cares of his occidental 
existence, and sojourn for a time amid the more soothing and 
reposeful scenes of the Orient. Crossing the continent to San 
Francisco, accompanied by his wife, he took passage to Yoko- 
hama ; much to his disgust there was no line of American steam- 
ers, and he was obliged to sail under the British flag. This, as is 
well known, was not per se any hardship to Mr. Field, but the fact 
brought to his mind more forcibly than pleasantly the terrible 
decadence of our mercantile marine through a false and suicidal 
legislation policy. As he progressed in his journey, the impres- 
sion made in this respect was still deepened. He travelled on 
seven English steamers, two French, one Japanese and one 
Chinese ; but nowhere had the pleasure of sailing in foreign seas 
under the United States flag. 



I58 CYRUS W. FIELD. 

Mr. Field liked to talk of this trip and describe the novel scenes 
he had passed through. One Japanese gentleman whom he visited 
introduced him to three of his wives and made tea for him in a 
golden tea-kettle. He was much pleased, as all travellers are, with 
the natural beauties of Japan — the volcanic mountains and lovely- 
groves, the latter of which are cultivated and highly appreciated 
by the natives, much space being given up to these forest growths 
even in the cities. The water-population of China, who know no 
firmer dwelling-place than their boats, and have so lived for suc- 
cessive generations, is a never-ending attraction, and to Mr. Field 
the extreme cleanliness of the large, densely-populated city of 
Canton was almost as great a surprise, since sewers are unknown. 
Neither at that time had it any telegraphic communication with the 
rest of the kingdom or the world, and Mr. Field felt this the more, 
since for so many years telegraphic process had formed the staple 
of his thoughts by day and his dreams by night. Turning west- 
ward from China, he entered the charmed land of India, the cradle 
of the Aryan race, the land of myth and fable, of Buddha temples, 
of holy cities, of historic and sacred legend. At the sacred city 
of Benares, whose marbled steps are washed by the consecrated 
waters of the Ganges, Mr. Field visited the rajah by special invita- 
tion, where he learned much not usually attainable by western 
travellers. Near Bombay he had an opportunity of seeing the 
Tower of Silence, where, according to Parsee custom, their dead 
are exposed to the elements and to the attack of birds of prey 
until the flesh is all consumed, leaving nothing bleaching in the 
sun but the ghastly skeletons. 

Mr. Field passed through the seven-fold heated Red Sea in 
March, visited Egypt, and then many European cities, of which 
Naples seems to have made the deepest impression, and, after 
nearly a year's absence, turned his face homeward, not failing on 
his arrival in New York to express his indignation at the practice 
of the custom-house officials, who first exacted a statement from 
him on oath that he " had not any dutiable goods," and then pro- 



CYRUS W. FIELD. 1 59 

ceeded to search his baggage, as if it was reasonable to presume 
that he had committed perjury! 

Since those days of recreation Mr. Field has entered largely 
into enterprises of a municipal nature, being identified with the 
system of elevated railroads in the city of New York, particularly 
the Third avenue line. Some few years ago (1879 to 1880) he 
undertook to erect upon his own land a monument to the memory 
of Adjutant-General John Andre, of the British army, who was 
employed to negotiate the treason of Benedict Arnold in the 
matter of surrendering West Point to the enemy. Andre was 
seized as a spy, being captured on ground near Tarrytown, now a 
part of Mr. Field's estate. The monument bore an inscription 
written by the late Dean Stanley, of England, and some compli- 
mentary and sympathetic words uttered by General Washington 
while condemning the young officer to death. That the historical 
spot should be rescued from oblivion by a monument of some sort 
is readily conceded, but the majority of Mr. Field's fellow-citizens 
objected to the dedication of a national memorial to an enemy and 
the result was that, shortly after its completion, on February 25th, 
1 88 1, the monument was mutilated by zealous patriotic hands, and 
again, on the 28th of the same month, it was repaired, but uselessly. 
In April it was again defaced, and so seriously that Mr. Field be- 
came convinced that it would prove a very Ixion's task to repair 
damages, and has, we believe, given up the attempt. The only 
plausible explanation of this anti-American fancy in the choice of a 
hero is, we think, to be found in Mr. Field's unbounded gratitude 
to the English government for their abundant and timely assist- 
ance in the matter of laying the Atlantic cable, a fact fully recog- 
nized in these pages, but which, it is quite certain, would never have 
been rendered had not British capital foreseen the profit in it. 

Mr. Field's latest attitude before the public is as a director of 
the Western Union Telegraph Company. His later years are 
crowned with wealth and honor, and he lives in the enjoyment of 
all that his heart desires and his active intellect requires. 



THOMAS A. SCOTT. 

The subject of this biography, Thomas Alexander Scott, was 
born in London, Franklin county, Penna., on December 24th, 1823. 
That place, then a straggling village numbering three hundred 
souls, is situated midway the length of the State, and on the bor- 
ders of Maryland. The main road through London intersects a 
broad, limestone valley, pleasant, smiling and fertile. On the east, 
South mountain casts its shadow, like the hand of a dial, athwart 
the valley ; while on the north, Cove mountain rears its bold head 
1,500 feet into the air. 

At the time of which we write, the rush and clang of no railway 
brought traffic into this peaceful scene, but all freight was trans- 
ported by heavy Conestoga wagons, many of which were made in 
London, and which cumbrously threaded their way between the 
great commercial centres of the country. Here the father of the 
subject of our sketch kept the chief inn of the village, a place 
greatly frequented by teamsters. The elder Thomas Scott was 
of a strong Scotch-Irish stock that came originally from Donegal, 
a stock which gives pluck, energy and hardihood. 

Amid these rustic scenes the boy first looked on life, and Long- 
fellow might easily have taken this early home for the motive of 
his prelude to the "Wayside Inn:" 

"A region of repose it seems, 
A place of slumber and of dreams, 

Remote among the wooded hills ! 
For there no noisy railway speeds 
Its torch-race, scattering smoke and gleeds; 
But noon and night the panting teams 
Stop under the great oaks that throw 
Tangles of light and shade below, 

On roofs, and doors and window-sills. 

(160) 




THOMAS A. SCOTT. 



THOMAS A. SCOTT. l6l 

Across the road the barns display 
Their lines of stalls, their mows of hay, 
Through their wide doors the breezes blow, 
The wattled cocks strut to and fro, 
And half effaced by rain and shine 
Swings on its post the creaking sign." 

And so our hero was merely the chore boy of the wayside inn, 
running this way and that, simply clad in rustic garb, a fair-haired, 
agile child. During the four or five winters before he was ten 
years of age, young Aleck, as he was then called, attended the 
village school. This was the only opportunity for regular instruc- 
tion that he ever received. But, in the larger, truer sense, his en- 
tire career was a school for the unfolding of manly and executive 
faculties. Not only the experience with men and affairs, the exer- 
cise of cool judgment, the necessity of observing and deciding 
instantaneously, but the comprehensive grasp of a multitude of 
subjects, the forecasting of a variety of consequences, and the in- 
sight into the best methods of developing material resources, all 
formed the means for a continuous training such as books alone 
can never give. 

When the youth was ten years of age, a great sorrow came 
upon the little household. The father died, leaving Aleck one of 
five children, and but limited provision for them and their mother. 
Young as he was a plunge into the great world was inevitable — 
that world in which he was born to be a leader. 

For a short time only he became a driver on the State Canal, 
near his home ; a position which he soon left for a clerkship in a 
country store near Waynesboro. From here he went, in the same 
capacity, soon afterward, to Bridgeport, and afterward to Mercers- 
burg. Evidently he had not found his true place. At the age of 
seventeen a new career opened before the aspiring, industrious 
young man. At that date a system of State transportation ex- 
tended from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, partly by means of a canal 
and partly by a primitive portage railroad. This system required 

three collectors of tolls, and one of these a certain Major James 
ii 



1 62 THOMAS A. SCOTT. 

Patton secured. As this same Major Patton had previously mar- 
ried an elder sister of Aleck, it was only natural that the young 
man should obtain a clerkship in the then important office. It was 
an onerous position for one so youthful, and great complaints were 
made in consequence : before the incumbent had been tried, not 
after. All who had business to transact found him prompt, ener- 
getic, courteous, and faithful. He was an expert in accounts, sur- 
passing his fellow-clerks in capacity of accomplishing business on 
hand, while the genial kindliness of his nature made all men his 
friends. With an immense fund of vitality, a frolicsome, sparkling 
disposition, and a great fondness for social life, the youth's strength 
seemed exhaustless. He never flagged. After the primitive 
merry-makings of the country, lasting till early dawn, he would 
take a single hour's rest, and then be at his post, ready for work, 
and good work, too. 

All that time Aleck was rosy-cheeked, dashing, and handsome, 
winning friends and deserving them. But he never forgot his du- 
ties and responsibilities. As a proof of the esteem in which he 
was held, when, by change of administration in 1841, his brother- 
in-law went out of office, the successor raised young Scott to the 
position of chief-clerk, with what was then the large salary of 
forty-five dollars per month. 

But it did not suit this restless young man to be always a clerk ; 
he had met a young lady who had permanently enlisted his affec- 
tions, and he wanted to be independent. Accordingly his former 
employer, Dr. Ginew, and Aleck Scott, formed a partnership to 
start a saw-mill at Columbia, Pennsylvania. Having procured a 
contract from the State to furnish lumber for public work, they 
seemed in a fair way to succeed. So, when barely twenty-four 
years of age, Mr. Scott was married to Margaret Madison of Col- 
umbia, and the young people went immediately to housekeeping. 
Life seemed fair and untroubled. A few months passed, and their 
hopes were dashed to the ground — a sudden freshet wrecked the 
mill and left the new firm almost penniless. But the young man 



THOMAS A. SCOTT. 1 63 

was undismayed. After looking about and trying one or two 
places, he finally became chief-clerk in the office of Alexander 
Cummings, Collector of Tolls at Philadelphia. Here he remained 
two years, in the second of which occurred the birth of his eldest 
son, James P., who became in after years his assistant and com- 
panion in many undertakings. 

Again the young husband and father returned to Columbia, this 
time as a shipper in the large transportation house of Leech & 
Co. ; but he had not yet found his rightful place. All his experi- 
ences and changes were but preparatory to the life-work upon 
which he entered in 1850. At that time the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road was building a line from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, and a com- 
petent man was required to take charge of the station at Duncans- 
ville, its western terminus. His engagement at this post is graph- 
ically described by surviving witnesses. Mr. Scott arrived at the 
company's office in Harrisburg in answer to a telegram sent at the 
instance of Dr. Ginew. Engineer Thomson, in charge of the works, 
heard a knock at his office door, and looking up saw on the thresh- 
old a bold, bright fellow with his trousers tucked into his boots, and 
a wide-brimmed hat stuck carelessly on the back of his head, which 
was covered with long flowing yellow locks. The fresh eager face 
and large blue eyes were full of life and spirit, and altogether he 
looked like a young prince masquerading in hoosier garb. 

The cautious engineer thought this young man too inexperi- 
enced. "All right," nonchalantly replied Scott, "I thought if I 
liked the place I'd stay a while, and if I didn't I'd tell you so," and 
he was about to depart. His coolness turned the scale. The en- 
gineer called to the retreating form, " Come back, young man, and 
stay with me a month." So it was arranged, and that moment 
revolutionized railroading in this country. 

We are now so much accustomed to superb facilities for travel 
and traffic, that we take all this gigantic system of railways as a 
natural growth, like grand mountains and far-reaching rivers. But 
transportation then was no more like transportation now than the 



164 THOMAS A. SCOTT. 

crawling of an earth-worm is like the sweep of the eagle. He 
would have laughed who had been foretold the present marvellous 
rapidity with which heavy freight is moved across the continent 
from ocean to ocean. Steam was applied to machinery, but the 
whole service was slow, cumbrous, lagging. The genius of loco- 
motion had hardly wakened from his slumber among the primeval 
forces of nature. He had waited long ages for the master's touch, 
the swift electric brain, and here entered a youth, laughing and gay 
as the morning. He steps forward and puts his hand upon the 
guiding lever of the locomotive, he sends long, keen glances over 
the ground sparsely lined by rails, he computes, and calculates, 
and examines; he weighs population and resources, and in a little 
while creates a new science of transportation. 

In this direction Thomas Alexander Scott was a leader such as 
no man had ever been. He leaped chasms, tunneled hills, 
bridged streams, combined facilities, and so developed a good 
portion of the most fertile section of our country, and he taught 
the world how to equip and manage railroads. The child of a 
poor widow, the untutored boy, driving horses on a canal, clerk- 
ing in country stores, going from one thing to another without 
real success, finally found his post as the developer of commerce, 
the subduer of rude forces, the conqueror of stupendous obstacles. 
Out of that wonderful brain the Pennsylvania Railway sped on its 
dizzy way, and a new scheme of traffic was mapped out. And all 
this came out of honest, hard work. He toiled early and late, he 
made himself acquainted with every detail of the business, he left 
nothing at loose ends. His remarkable executive capacity was 
applied to every part of the exercise in which he took so much 
pride. He allowed for no failures, for he conquered everything 
which might defeat. He studied human nature and put the right 
men in the right place. He represented administrative ability 
more than any other man of his generation. 

We left Mr. Scott at Duncansville, where he showed such sig- 
nal ability in charge of the station, that he was promoted to be 



THOMAS A. SCOTT. 1 65 

superintendent of the West Division, with headquarters in Pitts- 
burgh. This was in 1854. Three years later he was appointed 
general superintendent, with an office at Altoona. As business 
increased, the duties of superintendent became more onerous, but 
the abilities of the official kept pace with the promotion which 
awaited him. In i860, on the death of the incumbent, Mr. Scott, 
much to his surprise, became first Vice-President of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad at the instance of Mr. Thomson, who had then 
become its president. At this time Mr. Scott made a study of the 
geography, climate, population, commerce, manufactures and un- 
developed resources of the whole breadth of the continent, in 
order to tap the grain-growing belt to the best advantage. In 
this respect, as in others, he and President Thomson mutually 
helped one another. One was slow and profound, the other dash- 
ing and brilliant. The new vice-president at once went to work 
to buy up all the roads which could be utilized by their company, 
including that running from Lancaster to Harrisburg; that from 
Columbia to Middletown ; the Cumberland Valley, from Harris- 
burg to Chambersburg, and that which is now the Philadelphia 
and Erie branch of the Pennsylvania, also the Northern Central, 
running from Williamsport to Baltimore. Thus feeders of the 
main line were built up, and a great trunk line between the east- 
ern sea-board and the western rivers established successfully. And 
this work owed more to the far-seeing plans and energy of the 
subject of this biography than to any other person. In 1850 the 
gross revenue of the Pennsylvania Railroad was only $350,000. 
In the year before Mr. Scott's death, 1881, it amounted to over 
$26,000,000, with a net profit of $3,000,000. It is the boast of its 
officers to-day, that no other road in the world drains so large a 
territory or embraces a system so gigantic. Indeed, it has grown 
to be so vast, rich and influential as a corporation, that its power 
is both feared and courted. Its patronage and its weight in legis- 
lation are enormous. But the creator of the importance of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad was not, in the ordinary sense, a politician. 



1 66 THOMAS A. SCOTT. 

Those great abilities would have made him shine as a statesman, 
but they were directed into other channels, not less necessary for 
the public welfare. 

The year after Mr. Scott became vice-president of the road, the 
stirring times of the war came on, and his genius was called into 
requisition ; first by Governor Curtin, in order to assist in the 
transportation of troops from his native State to the national capi- 
tal. Washington was in danger; the rebellion was rampant in 
Baltimore, and communication between the North and South cut 
off. The situation was just such as best fitted the dash and zeal 
of the man then in the very prime of life — the Napoleon of rail- 
roads. The efficiency of his movements was so marked, that 
attention was called to it by General Simon Cameron, then Secre- 
tary of War, who ordered Mr. Scott to report to him without 
delay, in order to keep open and work the railway between the 
capital and the North. At once the vice-president went to work, 
began a line to Philadelphia by way of Annapolis, and in two days' 
time troops were landing in Washington. In order to give him 
official standing, he was very soon made colonel of the volunteers 
of the District of Columbia, with full charge of all railway and tele- 
graph lines operated by the government. 

As soon as Congress met, Colonel Scott was appointed assistant 
secretary of war, at the instance of General Cameron. It is not 
possible here, at this day, to compute the value of his services to 
the Union cause. But the Cabinet officers knew and estimated 
aright his celerity and judgment ; President Lincoln was accus- 
tomed to call him the " Perfect master of the situation," and they 
were frequently conferring together at the White House, bending 
over plans and maps in their shirt-sleeves. General Cameron has 
put on record his tribute to the great work of his assistant in this 
wise : " No other man in America, in my judgment, could have, at 
that time, fulfilled the requirements of the service as Colonel 
Thomas A. Scott did. It needed a man of untiring energy, quick 
decision and great nerve to deal with the every-day requirements 



THOMAS A. SCOTT. 1 67 

of the situation ; and no other man possessed all these qualities to 
such a degree. It was a part of my policy at the beginning to 
not only take and operate railroads in the enemy's country which 
we captured, but to build lines of railroads to follow the army as 
nearly as practicable. Most of our old army officers thought this 
could not be done, but Colonel Scott demonstrated its entire feasi- 
bility almost at the beginning of his career as a military railway 
manager. He had great responsibilities, and a great work to do. 
In less than a month he had so systematized his portion of the 
duties of the department, that he could tell the capacity for trans- 
portation to every division of the army. His marvellous mastery 
of details connected with his business, and his power to reach 
your judgment almost without explanation, are characteristics of 
his mind, which have seemed, in every respect, to make him the 
greatest railroad manager that ever lived." 

Early in the second year of the war, Edwin M. Stanton, who 
succeeded General Cameron in the War Department, sent Colonel 
Scott on a long tour through the West and Southwest, in order to 
inspect and report facilities for transportation over that territory, 
as well as to advise regarding the best manner of protecting public 
property. He proved to be so competent an authority in this 
direction, that he was despatched through the Eastern Division of 
the army for a like purpose. With this mission in view, he trav- 
elled 10,000 miles in a few weeks, accomplishing his work to the 
satisfaction of his chief, after which he resigned and returned to 
his old office in the Pennsylvania Railroad. But he never ceased 
to do everything in his power to aid the cause of the Union. One 
anecdote in this connection attests his coolness and decision. At 
the battle of Antietam, the soldiers needed more powder, and it 
was ordered by telegraph. Colonel Scott was on hand. Loading 
a train with powder and ammunition, he took direction of it, and 
sped on so rapidly that the boxes of the wheels began to smoke. 
He was entreated to slacken speed and cool the heated journals. 
Not he ! On and on they rushed ; denser grew the smoke and 



1 68 THOMAS A. SCOTT. 

flame. Bravely the daring man took the hazard, and rolled into 
the front with blazing wheels — but everything was safe — but it 
seemed only a chance that the train and all on board were not 
buried in a horrible explosion. In May or June, 1863, Colonel 
Scott was once more pressed into his country's service, and his 
sagacity was the cause of the check by Union forces of Lee's advance 
on Gettysburg; in September of the same year he was assigned 
to the staff of General Hooker, with the rank of colonel and 
assistant quartermaster. This was for the purpose of forwarding 
troops to Chattanooga, through the building and repairing of rail- 
ways, in order to rapidly mass soldiers on that important point. Hav- 
ing faithfully performed this work, Colonel Scott again went back to 
his office, where, in 1871, he was elected President of a Pennsyl- 
vania Company, connecting Pittsburgh with Chicago and St. Louis. 
Here he found immense difficulties in consolidating rival lines. 
Having declined the presidency of the Erie Railroad Company, 
Colonel Scott turned his attention in 1872 to the Texas Pacific, in 
which he invested the greater portion of his private means. The 
ensuing year he visited England in order to negotiate for funds to 
prosecute the work of construction, and was about to succeed, 
when the failure of Jay Cooke, and the subsequent panic, placed 
insuperable difficulties in his path. And on his immediate return 
to Philadelphia, he found his liabilities amounted to the amazing 
sum of $17,000,000. 

Colonel Scott at once proposed to retire from all his positions 
in railroad companies, but the various corporations with which he 
was connected refused his resignation. 

But it was a startling position in which he was placed. Tom 
Scott, as his friends loved to call him, was finally on the verge of 
bankruptcy. The poor boy, the ambitious, hard-working youth, 
the sagacious man of affairs, had apparently reached the pinnacle 
of fortune, only to fall from his dizzy height of luxurious wealth, 
bankrupt of all his proud possessions. But not so ; the daring, 
scheming brain, was yet unconquerable, fortune had not played 



THOMAS A. SCOTT. I 69 

him false. His creditors met, and, trusting in his honor and his 
capacity, generously bade him go on and extricate himself from 
his apparently hopeless position, if possible. One friend after 
another came to his rescue ; General Cameron advanced a million 
of dollars, others followed his example, and he went to work. 
Congress refused to grant a subsidy, but with incredible energy, 
he succeeded in placing the road beyond the need of help. He 
remained its president until the spring of 1881, when he resigned, 
after having received from Jay Gould the sum of $2,400,000 for 
his entire stock. This is one of the largest business transactions 
conducted by private parties on record in this country — through 
the medium of one little slip of paper. 

But we will go back to the history of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
in the year 1874. At that time occurred the death of its president, 
Mr. Thomson, the old-time friend of Colonel Scott, and the latter 
gentleman was immediately elected to fill that place. When he 
entered upon the office, the value of the stock was estimated at 
$13,430,000; at the expiration of his occupancy of the chair, its 
par value was the enormous sum of $151,000,000, Governor 
Hartranft having signed a bill allowing the increase of nearly 
$118,000,000, a process of " watering " stock with which the public 
is only too familiar. The fortune of the road had been already 
established by the expansion of the currency, and the enlarged 
facilities required during the war. 

By the same increase of value and of business, in addition to the 
shrewdness of his keen judgment, the fortune of President Scott 
was also secured. 

As we may believe, these six years were crowded full of earnest 
toil. He had secured uniform rates amon £ trunk lines, established 
a board of arbitration for the purpose of settling disputes, organ- 
ized fast freight lines, and built up branch or connecting roads, 
which helped to develop the country, while they fed the main line 
along the route. Those various roads he made work together as 
a whole, self-supporting and mutually helpful. Nor was this all. 



17° THOMAS A. SCOTT. 

He was at the same time President of the Pennsylvania Company, 
which controlled 4,000 miles of railway beyond Pittsburgh ; Presi- 
dent of the Pan-handle route ; of the Union Pacific Railroad ; of 
the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad; controlling director of the 
Southern Railway Security Company, of the Kansas Pacific, the 
Denver and Rio Grande, as well as several other smaller roads. 

But another crisis occurred in his career in the year 1877. The 
great line competitions began, and the effect of the panic three 
years before still bore heavily on all classes. The terrible riots 
of Pittsburgh took place, in which the loss of the Pennsylvania was 
at least $2,000,000. Colonel Scott, who never knew fear, had his 
headquarters in the station in West Philadelphia, from which, 
though continually menaced by mobs, he directed all the move- 
ments of the troops guarding the lines, and the working of the 
trains. His coolness and intrepidity saved farther loss. 

After all was over, the Colonel felt weakened physically. His 
splendid career had been handicapped with too many heavy 
weights, and he began to slacken speed in the race of life. An 
injury received in a railway collision had caused slight occasional 
paralysis of the left side. And now the old symptoms became 
aggravated. In the fall of 1878 a second attack supervened, and 
he was ordered abroad for change and recreation. The weary 
brain must relax or give way. He took his family with him, and 
spent most of the winter in Nice, among orange blossoms, beside 
the blue, rippling waters of the Mediterranean. He went up 
the Nile, where old Egypt sits mumbling over her Pyramids ; 
sharp contrast to the life he had left behind. But the nervous 
tension had continued too long ; he rested but could not be 
restored. 

After his return Colonel Scott continued to discharge his duties 
as President of the Pennsylvania Railroad until, after thirty years' 
•service in one or another department, he felt constrained to resign 
in May, 1880. The year previous he had withdrawn from nearly 
all official positions and closed up his business, with the sale of his 



THOMAS A. SCOTT. 171 

stock to Jay Gould, as described. He still continued to visit his 
office, but, early in May, 1881, the end was evidently approaching. 
While on the way to attend a wedding he was once more stricken 
with paralysis and taken to his beautiful home, on the corner of 
Nineteenth and Locust streets, in Philadelphia. Under the skill 
of physicians he rallied sufficiently to be removed to his country- 
seat at Darby, Delaware county, where he slowly sunk into uncon- 
sciousness and quietly passed away on Saturday, May 21st, 1881. 
By his bedside were his son, James P., and his daughter, Mrs. 
Miriam P. Bickby, children of his first wife, who died a few years 
after marriage. There were also present his second wife, to whom 
he was married sixteen years previously, and their two children, 
Edgar Thomson and Minnie. This accomplished lady, who was 
formerly Anna D. Riddle, of Pittsburgh, still survives. 

It had been the express wish of Colonel Scott that everything 
connected with his obsequies should be plain and unpretentious. 
Four days after his death, all that was mortal of the kingly mind 
was laid in the beautiful Woodlands Cemetery. The family lot 
occupies the highest ground in the burial-place, and is canopied by 
three great oaks, a spot which the railway king had selected when 
in health, and where his little boy, the same child who died while 
he was abroad, lay sleeping his last sleep. Hither was brought 
the simple, black, cloth-covered casket, which had been kept open 
at the spacious country-house for his cherished friends to take a 
farewell look of features composed and peaceful, on which rested 
the last, inscrutable smile of death. It was noticed that not a 
wrinkle or seam marred the reposeful brow to show what weight 
of thought and care had laid it low. The last great mystery had 
effaced all lesser symbols in the supreme moment. And so 
they followed all that was left to the grave — the representatives 
of the press, the bar, the pulpit, and the great corporations and 
railroads of the country. Bishop Stevens, of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, assisted by several other clergymen, adminis- 
tered the last simple rites of the solemn funeral service. The 



172 THOMAS A. SCOTT. 

grave was lined and walled with flowers, and, as dust was com- 
mitted to dust, the sun's last rays fell like burnished gold across 
the little spot where reposed the body of the greatest administrator 
of the age. 

In the last will of Colonel Scott the customary inventory of his 
property after death was forbidden, and no formal account was re- 
quired of his executors. These were the wife and the eldest son 
and daughter of the testator. Bequests were given to his brothers, 
sisters, nieces and a few intimate friends, but the bulk of his prop- 
erty was divided equally between his wife and his four surviving 
children. Colonel Scott had, during his lifetime, conferred great 
benefactions upon a number of public institutions. Among these 
were the Jefferson Medical College, the University of Virginia 
and several others, to which he gave $50,000 each. His private 
kindness was delicate and almost unbounded; much of it never 
became public. Frank, generous, social and kindly in private, 
he could be prompt and domineering when occasion demanded. 
Cast in a large mould, he was eminently fitted to become an auto- 
crat of railways. Sitting in his office, within hearing of the click 
of the telegraph, he tied together the seaboard and the lakes, the 
Pacific and the Atlantic, with chains of steel, and sent over them 
ponderous engines careering like tops. 

Nothing can be more remarkable than the way in which fortune 
showered on him her choicest gifts. The poor boy of the wayside 
inn, spending his first earnings for his mother's comfort ; at middle 
life he was the peer of a Rothschild. At his retirement from 
office, at the head of the railway service, his fortune could not 
have been less than $17,000,000. It is like reading the story of 
Aladdin's wonderful lamp to trace his dazzling career and learn 
of the millions he accumulated. Fortune seemed to have manu- 
factured a cornucopia of golden stuff and filled it with the rarest 
treasures in order to shower all upon the head of the self-made 
man. He is an example of the height to which energy and will 
and genius can raise their daring possessor when once Fortune 
turns the dazzling light of her face upon his rugged pathway. 



AMOS LAWRENCE. 

Blood tells ; the man is what his ancestors have made him in 
quality, but the particular form of development is determined by 
circumstances. Thus is explained the inborn integrity and con- 
scientious course pursued in his business, as well as in all the 
affairs of life, by Amos Lawrence. The Lawrences have a good 
record, running back sixteen generations in England, and for over 
two hundred years in this country. The name is derived from 
the Latin Laurentius — meaning, " flourishing like a bay tree." 
The first of the name known in England was the Monk Lawrence 
from Italy, who came to preach Christianity there ; he became 
eventually Archbishop of Canterbury, and died in 916, being bur- 
ied in the Abbey of St. Austine's ; another ancestor was General 
John Lawrence, who commanded a wing of the English army at 
the famous battle of Flodden Field ; later, one of the same name, 
a clergyman, was exiled for his faith by Queen Mary. One, Ed- 
ward, was knighted in 1619. The family have always had a relig- 
ious character — mixed with military and literary tendencies. The 
immediate ancestor of the present family in New England came 
here in the company led by John Winthrop, the first Governor of 
Massachusetts, like most of the first colonists actuated by relig- 
ious principles. 

Samuel, the father of Amos Lawrence, was a sturdy patriot, 
and one of the very first yeomen to take up arms in the war of 
the Revolution ; he belonged to the " Minute Men " of Groton, 
Massachusetts, and on that ever memorable 19th of April, 1775, 
he was hastily summoned, while at work in his field, by General 
Prescott, who, riding hastily toward the Lawrence homestead, gave 
the warning call: "Samuel, notify your men the British are com- 

(173) 



I 74 AMOS LAWRENCE. 

ing ! " Not a moment did he delay, collecting the members of his 
company, who resided at considerable distances apart, from one to 
seven miles, they were all ready in three hours' time, and march- 
ing on their way to Boston. The body gathered by the intrepid 
Lawrence came up in time to share in the battle, and the glory of 
Bunker Hill, some of them in wounds and patriots' death. 

Samuel Lawrence had a narrow escape : his hat bore the. marks 
of two bullets, one of which grazed the hair from the top of his 
head, while a spent shot lamed his arm. Two years later Samuel 
Lawrence stood by the side of his chosen bride, and while the 
marriage was yet incomplete the tolling of the town bell an- 
nounced to the " minute men " that danger was apprehended, and 
their presence called for ; the ceremony was hastily concluded, 
which made Susanna Parker the wife of this moral hero, and tak- 
ing a hurried farewell of her he went bravely forth to join the 
defenders of his country, unknowing whether he should ever re- 
join the young wife from whom he was so suddenly and unexpect- 
edly separated. He afterwards did the State some good in the 
battle of Rhode Island, was created a major for his bravery in face 
of the enemy, and finally returned to enjoy the peace his valor had 
helped to win. In civil life he was honored and respected, was 
made a justice of the peace, and was for many years a deacon of 
the church. He was also a promoter of learning, and projected, 
with the aid of others, the famous academy, afterward called by 
his name, which still exists and flourishes in Groton, of which he 
was a trustee for thirty-three years. From such a father we ought 
to expect energetic and conscientious sons. His mother, whom he 
greatly venerated, was also a woman of marked intelligence and 
great energy, and of a good ancestry. This couple had nine chil- 
dren, of whom Amos and Abbott became the most distinguished 
by their honest accumulation of great wealth, and their benevolent 
use of it. Amos was born on the 2 2d of April, 1786, being the 
third son. He was a delicate child, and consequently was not 
kept constantly, as were the hardier boys, at the district school ; 



AMOS LAWRENCE. 1 75 

but his education was not on that account neglected; both father 
and mother, by their instruction, more than made up to him what 
he missed by occasional absences from the schoolhouse. As he 
grew older and stronger he was sent to the academy, which his 
father's influence had done so much to create ; but when only thir- 
teen he left the scholar's bench and took a position behind the 
counter of a "country store," kept by one James Brazier. If a 
country store does not impress the visitor from a large city with 
harmony and congruity, it nevertheless is a good school for a 
young beginner in trade to learn the value and uses of a great 
variety of products and utensils. In Brazier's store might be 
found everything in the hardware line from a plough to a needle ; in 
textile fabrics, from a horse-blanket to a pocket-handkerchief; from 
the garden, all the usual productions from a pumpkin to a pepper- 
corn ; from the field, apples and oats ; from the earth, coal and 
salt; for the festively inclined, Jamaica rum and cider; for the 
sick, drugs of every description, patented or made up by prescrip- 
tion. A boy must be dull who does not gain some new ideas by 
the contact with and sale of such varied articles, and young Amos 
Lawrence was one who profited greatly by this experience. 

Every "country store" then had what might be called "a bar;" 
liquors were mixed to the taste of the customers to be drunk on 
the spot, and clerks were expected to perform this duty as 
promptly as any other ; in this store of Brazier's there were four 
other young men, all older than Amos, who had learned to com- 
bine for themselves a very pleasant drink composed of various in- 
gredients, the basis of which was rum ; for a short time young 
Lawrence joined his elders in partaking of this refreshment, but 
on finding the desire for it growing upon him, young as he was he 
resolved to strike out a line for himself, and declined to partake 
of the seductive mixture. At first he only meant to break him- 
self temporarily of the habit of anticipating the hour of indul- 
gence, but finally concluded that it was best to abstain altogether; 
which he did from that time forward, though he was still under the 



I76 AMOS LAWRENCE. 

obligation to mix drinks and sell to customers. Considering that 
at the time of making this wise resolution the indulgence cost 
him nothing, that the custom was almost universal, and that the 
other clerks were all older than himself, it was certainly remark- 
able in a boy of fourteen to show the courage of his opinions in 
so direct and practical a manner ; nor can we think that he effected 
this without drawing upon himself the sneers and jokes of his 
companions : one of the hardest trials a lad can be called to bear. 
About the same time he determined to avoid the use of tobacco 
in every shape: not because he did not like it, for he often kept a 
cigar in his desk for its flavor, but because its use was unnecessary, 
expensive, and objectionable in many ways. Amos had early 
learned to restrain his appetite, one of the most important 
branches of education, unfortunately too much neglected by 
parents and guardians. 

But every one's reward for virtuous conduct does not come so 
quickly and surely as did young Lawrence's. He persevered 
through the whole of his apprenticeship in the course he had 
marked out for himself, and, with prompt, faithful, strict atten- 
tion to all his duties, he gradually took precedence, in the eyes of 
his master, of the other clerks, and the management of the busi- 
ness was eventually left almost wholly in his hands. Among other 
things, he had so familiarized himself with the drug department 
that it was quite a usual occurrence for persons to consult him as 
to their use, thus saving themselves the expense of applying to a 
physician. 

No sooner was Amos twenty-one years of age, and his seven 
years' apprenticeship ended, than he started for Boston, a neighbor 
conveying him in his chaise, with the meagre sum of twenty dol- 
lars in his pocket. His reputation for capacity and probity had gone 
before him, and he had no difficulty in procuring a clerkship ; in 
fact, one was offered him as soon as it was known he was free to 
accept a position, though he had intended commencing business in 
Groton, and had gone to Boston to establish a credit. He con- 



AMOS LAWRENCE. 1 77 

tinued in this place only from April to the close of the year ; then 
he decided to go into business for himself — this was in 1807. 
True, he had no capital except his excellent record and his experi- 
ence, but with these he obtained the necessary credit, and he 
opened his first little dry-goods store on Cornhill, Boston. He at 
first employed but one clerk, who was hereafter to win fame in quite 
another direction. This was Henry, afterwards Brigadier-General 
Whiting, U. S. A. Mr. Lawrence, Sr., had naturally taken great 
interest in the venture of his son Amos, commencing business on 
nothing, as one may say, but his good character ; but on this his 
father relied, as did others. But he felt that some money was 
needed. So the old gentleman, without consulting his son, put a 
mortgage of $1,000 on his farm and brought the cash to Amos; 
the latter accepted its use, but with regret, feeling the terrible re- 
sponsibility of what would happen if he should fail and be unable 
to repay it. But he did not fail, and lived in prosperity many 
years in which to repay, not only the money, but the trust which 
his father had reposed in him. 

Prompt payment was one of the cardinal points in the conduct 
of his business. In this period of his life, while in the retail trade, 
he never allowed a bill against him to remain unpaid over the 
Sabbath, even for goods bought at auction on Saturday. He 
settled by bill, note or otherwise, so as to start the next week clear 
of all complications. An accurate daily balance of accounts, a 
frequent examination and inventory of stock, strict economy in 
personal habits, the limitation of obligations, so as to leave him- 
self a fair margin for unforeseen contingencies, could hardly fail 
to carry the young merchant safely through his initial experiment, 
and at the end of his first year he could show fifteen hundred dol- 
lars of clear profit. The second year his books showed a balance 
in his favor of four thousand dollars ; and Amos Lawrence might 
now be said to be firmly anchored among the most trusted of the 
young merchants of Boston, then famous for its many reliable 
and worthy business men, who grew up to earn the cognomen of 

" the solid men of Boston." 
12 



I J 8 AMOS LAWRENCE. 

Some of our readers may think that Mr. Lawrence was spe- 
cially favored by the times in which he lived, and imagine that his 
opportunities were more favorable than is offered young men at 
the present day, but, so far is this from being the case, that we may 
safely say that at no period since the adoption of the Constitution 
has there been a longer and drearier period of " bad times " than 
the first ten or twelve years of Mr. Lawrence's mercantile experi- 
ence. In the winter of 1807 and i£o8, when he commenced, was 
the precise period when all business was thrown into confusion, 
and in many cases merchants were completely ruined by the 
44 French spoliations" upon the sea, and by the bitter remedy ap- 
plied by the government of subsequently placing an " embargo " 
on vessels which forbade them leaving any port in New England 
— utter stagnation would have been the result had not this famous 
edict been more or less successfully evaded. War was in the air, dis- 
turbing values and making all investments insecure ; and then fol- 
lowed the actual collision with England, and, after the conclusion 
of the war of 181 2, the burden of taxation was so great that im- 
mense numbers of small land-holders had their property sold at 
public auction for arrears of taxes, and it was not until after the 
election of President Monroe, in 181 7 — the "era of good feeling" 
— that a general revival of business took place, aided by the new 
tariff which went into operation about the same time that the New 
England merchant could feel assured that a reasonable invest- 
ment was sure of a suitable return. It was not a favorable time 
when Amos Lawrence ventured his fortunes in a stock of dry- 
goods on Cornhill ; but, by care and good judgment, he conquered 
the bad times and came out of the struggle victorious. 

At the first smell of powder his only clerk, Henry Whiting, had 
left him, and Amos Lawrence now determined to invite his 
younger brother, Abbott, to come with him as a clerk. Abbott 
was at this time only fifteen, but he had been taught, like his elder 
brothers, to use all his talents, and Amos had no reason to doubt 
that he would take an interest in the business, more than a stran- 



AMOS LAWRENCE. I 79 

ger would be likely to do, and in this he was not mistaken. It 
was in October, 1808, when the lumbering old stage, connecting 
with Groton, brought to the old tavern, known as the " Exchange," 
and there deposited its youngest passenger, a lad with all his 
wardrobe contained in a bundle, which he carried in his hands, 
and the mighty sum of three dollars, which he carefully guarded, 
in his pocket. This was the debut of Abbott Lawrence in Boston, 
the future " merchant prince," munificent patron of learning, states- 
man, and Minister to the Court of St. James, outshining in popu- 
lar estimation, if not in solid worth, his elder brother, who had 
summoned him from the paternal acres to come and sell cotton- 
cloth on Cornhill. For nearly seven years Abbott acted as em- 
ploye in the store until 1814, when he was received into partner- 
ship ; the new firm taking the title of "A. & A. Lawrence." Mr. 
Amos Lawrence had gradually been eliminating the retail features 
of his business, and the new firm now established themselves as 
importers and commission merchants, dealing largely in woollen 
goods, as also in the manufacture and exportation of cottons. 
They were among the first interested in the establishment of the 
cotton-mills at Lowell, and subsequently in others. They were 
the leading projectors and large stockholders in the Suffolk, 
Tremont and Lawrence companies. From this time forward 
wealth rolled in upon them like a golden stream ; their business 
transactions grew with their fortunes, and the firm of "A. & A. 
Lawrence" stood second to none in the tri-mountain city. 

As a mill-owner Mr. Lawrence did much to preserve the well- 
being of the female operatives employed in the mills, making such 
judicious regulations and provisions as would secure to them the 
most healthful accommodations, and means of religious and men- 
tal culture which the circumstances admitted of. In his day, it 
must be remembered, the country had not then been subjected to 
the flood of foreigners which has since forced out of the mills the 
daughters of the soil ; most of the operatives were young women 
from the agricultural districts, many of whom came to work only 



1 80 AMOS LAWRENCE. 

one or more seasons in the mills, perhaps to earn money to pay 
for a term or two at " the Academy ; " to help pay a brother's ex- 
penses at college, or possibly to pay off a mortgage on the home- 
stead. With such hands as these every effort for their benefit met 
with the fullest appreciation. But they could not be dealt with 
like machines. We are aware that the Lawrences have been 
criticised for not doing more than they did for their numerous 
operatives, but the operatives of his day were American men and 
women, able to look out for themselves, and who would have re- 
sented any interference in their personal habits. They had such 
accommodations as they paid for, and they saved or spent their 
money as they chose ; yet we know that Mr. Lawrence prided him- 
self upon the comfortable appearance and well-being, morally and 
mentally, of his work-people, and was in the habit of contrasting 
them in every particular with the " mill-hands " of Manchester and 
other manufacturing cities in England. Their free and indepen- 
dent looks and respectable style of dress sufficiently showed they 
were not ill-used. 

Mr. Lawrence never speculated in stocks, hence it is not easy 
to discover where at any one time he made a great sudden addi- 
tion to his fortune ; in fact, he himself admitted that he never did; 
his wealth increased by steady, constant, and large but not aston- 
ishing additions. There was no cessation to the incoming profits, 
no relapses, no suspensions, no failures, and so panoplied was he 
with business caution and, it may be added, prescience of coming 
changes, that no commercial crisis shook his credit, no financial 
panic moved the solidity of the firm ; gradual, steady accretion was 
the law of accumulation with Amos Lawrence, and the " law unto 
himself" of distribution was very similar. He gave away steadily, 
as he received, and with as much method and discretion ; about a 
tenth of his large income was habitually devoted to charity. In 
his mode of bestowal every effort was made by him to avoid pub- 
licity ; there was no affectation about this ; he was seriously an- 
noyed whenever injudicious friends paraded his beneficence in the 



AMOS LAWRENCE. 1 8 1 

papers, and on several occasions took special pains to prevent 
such action. 

Mr. Lawrence had what might be called a strong penchant for 
giving advice; whether this was always well received we have no 
means of knowing, but his diary abounds in instances of letters 
written for the sole purpose of warning or guiding some young 
relative or friend, and some not so young. When he sent his 
brother Abbott on his first business voyage to England, in 1815, 
the young man being then nearly twenty-three, his elder brother 
wrote him an excellent letter, warning him to withstand all the 
" new forms of temptation he might meet among strangers." To 
his own son, in after life, whom he had sent to Europe for the 
benefit of foreign travel, he wrote some truly excellent suggestions, 
which many of our modern youths might profit by. Mr. Lawrence 
was a firm believer in American principles, and he wanted no im- 
portation of manners or ethics in his family. He writes thus to 
his son, then (1829) in Europe: "Bring home no foreign fancies 
which are inapplicable to our state of society. It is very common 
for our young men to come home and appear quite ridiculous, in 
attempting to introduce their foreign fashions. It should always 
be kept in mind, that the state of society is widely different here 
from that in Europe, and our comfort and character require it 
should long remain so. Those who strive to introduce many of 
the European habits and fashions, by displacing our own, do a 
serious injury to the republic, and deserve censure. An idle per- 
son, with good powers of mind, becomes torpid and inactive after 
a few years indulgence, and is incapable of making any high effort. 
Highly important is it then, to avoid this enemy of mental and 
moral improvement." To another son, at school, he writes : " Get 
the habit firmly fixed by putting down every cent you receive and 
every cent you expend. In this way you will acquire some knowl- 
edge of the relative value of things, and a habit of judging and of 
care, which will be of use to you during all your life. . . The 
habit of being accurate will have an influence upon your whole 
character/' 



1 82 AMOS LAWRENCE. 

He especially urged his son to write out fully and clearly the 
account of any expense of the judiciousness of which he doubted, 
and by no means to omit it, or slur it over. " This habit," he adds, 
" is as necessary for professional men as for a merchant, because, 
in their business, there are numerous ways to make little savings, 
if they find their income too small, which they would not adopt 
without looking at the detail of all their expenses." 

Mr. Lawrence was wont to express the opinion that, among the 
numerous merchants whom he had known, who had failed in 
business, that a prominent cause was "want of system" in their 
affairs, by which they might know when their expenses and losses 
exceeded their profits. This remark was probably made before 
the system of bookkeeping by double entry had become as com- 
mon as it is now, and which may be said to have been introduced 
in Boston by Amos Lawrence ; the firm of A. and A. Lawrence 
being the first merchants to open a set of books upon that prin- 
ciple. 

To a son, at school in France, he writes: "I beseech you to con- 
sider well the advantages you enjoy, and to avail yourself of your 
opportunities to give your manners a little more care and polish ; 
for you may depend upon it, manners are highly important in your 
intercourse with the world. Good principles, good temper, and 
good manners will carry a man through the world much better 
than he can get along with the absence of either. The most im- 
portant are good principles ; without these, the best manners, 
though for a time acceptable, cannot sustain a person in trying 
situations. Do not omit the opportunity to acquire a character 
and habits, that will continue to improve during the remainder of 
life. At its close, the reflection that you have thus done, will be a 
support and stay worth more than any sacrifice you may ever be 
called upon to make in acquiring these habits." Mr. Lawrence's 
own life was a full and perfect justification of these sentiments. 
In his business he carried them out to the fullest extent. 

In regard to the charities of Amos Lawrence, there has been no 



AMOS LAWRENCE. 1 83 

record preserved for the first twenty-two years of his residence in 
Boston. That he kept such a record is highly probable, as without 
it he could scarcely conform to his own standard of knowing pre- 
cisely how he stood as to " profit and loss ; " perhaps, under some 
impulse of modesty, he destroyed these records after they had 
served their purpose. If so, he took a new departure in 1829, 
and preserved them carefully ; probably at this time they became 
much larger, as he was then exempt from any possible care as to 
the future of his family; his wealth by that time being considered 
very large, though bearing no comparison to the monstrous for- 
tunes which have been accumulated in modern days. Mr. Amos 
Lawrence's charities did not take the most common form of large 
donations to popular objects or charities, but consisted mainly in 
the personal distribution of money, clothing, coal, books, etc. ; 
whatever was most needed by the individual poor of his own city 
of Boston. That he was sometimes deceived, there can be little 
doubt, but in the main this was perhaps the most satisfactory way 
of dispensing charity — to give to those whom one personally knows 
to be in need, without the intervention of society " red-tape" rules, 
or paid agents. Certainly it is the way in which the donor can 
receive the most prompt and satisfactory return for his bounty, 
being paid by the sight of happiness produced, benefits conferred, 
and acknowledged by the cheered hearts and glistening eyes of the 
recipients. Mr. Lawrence says in his diary : " I have for the year 
1829 kept a particular account of such other expenses as came 
under the denomination of charities* and appropriations for the 
benefit of others ; not of my own household, for many of whom I 
feel under the same obligation as my own family." This precise 
form of record of charities was henceforward kept with scrupulous 
care for the remaining twenty-three years of his life ; and a very 
curious record it is, especially the make-up of some of those pot 
pourri packages, " as big as a small haycock," which were every 
now and then sent off to some poor minister's family, living in 
some country parish on a salary of three or four hundred a year. 



1 84 AMOS LAWRENCE. 

Mr. Lawrence devoted two rooms in his house to the storage 
of articles to be given away ; a certain division contained clothing, 
shoes, quilts, blankets, piece goods ; another, household utensils, 
tools, articles of furniture, etc. In a department frequently emptied 
and replenished were articles of food, barrels of flour, sacks of 
meal, hams, apples, and at certain seasons chickens and turkeys, 
which Mr. Lawrence personally, or through some of his family, 
would take in a carriage and leave anions the families known to 
be in need. During the latter years of his life, when business 
pressed more lightly upon him, Mr. Lawrence would spend many 
hours in the course of a week making up bundles and packages, 
adapted to the individual needs of his beneficiaries. Usually his 
coachman was his assistant in wrapping and tying up these bun- 
dles. To some of our millionaires who have given their hundreds 
of thousands of dollars to found institutions of learning or charity, 
these details may seem puerile ; but it is quite possible that rela- 
tively more good was accomplished in this discriminate and sym- 
pathetic distribution, than it is possible to secure by larger sums, 
through more formal and official means. It is also to be consid- 
ered that Mr. Lawrence's fortune was only relatively large. It 
would hardly be rated now as anything extraordinary, though it 
was so regarded by his cotemporaries. But all of Mr. Lawrence's 
gifts were not of a private nature. 

In 1846 he purchased a large building on Mason street to found 
a hospital for children, adding $5,000 as a donation towards its 
maintenance. This charity was afterwards removed to Washing- 
ton street, and called the Child's Infirmary. He was a trustee of 
the Massachusetts General Hospital, and this association was 
favored with many donations from him. He gave $10,000 to Wil- 
liams College in 1845, an d finding that this had become public, and 
wishing to make some additional gift, he wrote to President Hop- 
kins, January 26th, 1846, as follows: 

" I have thought much of the best means of helping your college 
to a library building without its getting into the newspapers," etc. 



AMOS LAWRENCE. 1 85 

At this time he sent $5,000, and the next year additional money 
for the enlargement of the library. In 1847 ne established four 
free scholarships, " for all time," to be used through the Trustees 
of Lawrence Academy in Groton. All his gifts to Williams Col- 
lege cannot now be traced. He was constantly adding to the 
library new, and valuable, and costly books. He also used his in- 
fluence to induce others to give, and was the means of procuring 
valuable donations to Amherst, and made, himself, gifts to Wabash. 
In Ireland's great famine year, 1847, ne gave largely to the relief 
committee. He subscribed $10,000 towards the erection of the 
Bunker Hill Monument at Charleston. It is estimated that he 
gave in charities between $600,000 and $700,000. 

One very pleasing incident among the young people shows in 
what estimation he was held by them : in the famous " Mather 
School," in Boston, a society for mental culture was formed called 
the "Lawrence Association," and on Christmas day, 1849, a dele- 
gation from this school of forty-nine young ladies was appointed 
who presented him with a silver cup, simply as an expression of 
esteem. (The " Mather School " is one of the public schools of 
Boston, containing both sexes.) Mr. Lawrence served one term 
in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and was chosen 
an elector for the State in the presidential contest, when General 
Scott was a candidate, for whom Mr. Lawrence cast his vote : 
having been a Whig in politics all his life, or while that party ex- 
isted. 

For many years, during the latter part of his life Mr. Lawrence 
was a permanent invalid, though not laid up ; he was a constant 
sufferer from dyspepsia, so that in the midst of possible luxury he 
was obliged to limit himself to a few ounces per day of the plain- 
est food: "coarse meal gruel" was his regular diet; he usually 
took his meals separately from the family, to avoid the temptation 
of more inviting viands. 

Mr. Lawrence was twice married: in 181 1 to Miss Sarah Rich- 
ards, who died in 18 19, and in 1821 to Mrs. Nancy Ellis, widow of 



1 86 AMOS LAWRENCE. 

Judge Ellis of New Hampshire, and daughter of Robert Means 
of Amherst. 

He was a very domestic man, and always able to find in his 
family circle more attraction than in gayer scenes elsewhere. Mr. 
Lawrence, though a far-seeing, sharp business man, always taking 
opportunities, as he expressed it, " at the top of the tide/' never 
separated his religion from his business ; going even so far, ac- 
cording to the Rev. Father Taylor, as to have scripture texts en- 
graved on the inner folds of his pocket-book. He was a Unitar- 
ian in belief — a denomination which places more trust in a good 
life than a finely cut creed ; and Amos Lawrence's whole life was 
an exemplification of this practical sort of faith. He died on the 
31st of December, 1852, in the night, of a sudden attack of his 
old complaint. He was a man, conscientious almost to super- 
scrupulousness, but of a large heart, and of a class of whom we 
might well wish that they were more numerous. 




A. J. DREXEL 



A. J. DREXEL. 

The father of Mr. Anthony J. Drexel came to America from 
Austria when Napoleon invaded that country, and pursued his 
profession as a portrait-painter. He had received an excellent 
art education at Milan, and was quickly appreciated in the country 
of his adoption. Settling in Philadelphia, he married, and resided 
on the site now occupied by the Public Ledger building, at the 
corner of Chestnut and Sixth streets. His studio was in the same 
building. Learning that South America was a promising field for 
a young artist, he sailed for Valparaiso, and after establishing him- 
self there, spent his leisure in acquiring the Spanish language. 
His professional employment soon became lucrative, and he vis- 
ited a number of other large cities. During his residence in South 
America he made many friends, and two years after his return to 
Philadelphia was recalled to that country, where he painted many 
portraits and pictures. Many of the latter still adorn churches in 
Chili, Peru, Ecuador, Granada, and Brazil. In 1830 he visited 
Mexico, and on his return from that country settled in Louisville, 
Kentucky, where he did not remain long, but returned to Phila- 
delphia, where he opened a broker's office, in order to give his 
sons a business opportunity. This was in 1838, and artist though 
he was, a good business man, and the firm of Drexel, Sather & 
Church flourished from the time it was organized in 1837 unt ^ 
1857, when he withdrew from it, leaving it to his sons. The firm 
had become large, prosperous, and of high credit in his lifetime, 
and now is at the front rank of banking houses in America. The 
two brothers are Anthony J. and Francis A., the former of whom 
is at the head of the house. The Drexels have a New York 
house, now Drexel, Morgan & Co., and a Paris house, Drexel, 

(187) 



1 88 A. J. DREXEL. 

Harjes & Co., a London connection, J. S. Morgan & Co. The 
loans, credits, and other financial operations of these three Drexel 
banks extend all over the commercial world. 

Anthony J. Drexel was born in Philadelphia in 1826, and long 
before he was through with his school studies entered the bank at 
the age of thirteen. Since then (or rather since his school educa- 
tion was finished) the history of the banking establishment has 
been his life. Its progress, its great growth, its high repute, its 
wide influence, the extent of its operations, furnish the material 
that would go into his biography, his brother's and his father's. 
Otherwise the writer can only speak of his character, and the ad- 
mirable qualities which give him prominence in business and in 
private life. First as to his breadth of view as banker. The 
Drexel houses are money-furnishing establishments, their principal 
transactions being to supply capital for individual and corporate 
enterprises or needs — for government use, national, State and 
municipal — and for times of public emergency. In all such nego- 
tiations, but especially those of a large or public nature, Mr. An- 
thony Drexel has a quick and intuitive perception, his mind taking 
in all the prominent bearings of the proposition at once, and en- 
abling him to decide promptly what ought or ought not to be done; 
and with him what should be done takes notice not only of the 
interest of his own banks, but just and generous regard for the 
interests of the client and for the public also, whenever the nego- 
tiation has its public side. If it is an occasion when solvent busi- 
ness men or fiduciary institutions are hard pressed or might be 
compelled to suspend or break owing to panic in the money 
market, the means are furnished to save the men or the institu- 
tions from breaking or discredit. Mr. Drexel has many times 
done this under all sorts of circumstances, from the humblest to 
those involving safety or ruin to very large corporations, where if 
the relief had not been extended, there would have been peril of 
widespread disaster. For all such matters he has instinctive in- 
sight, the broadest view, and the quickest decision. 



A. J. DREXEL. 189 

The Drexel houses have supplied and placed hundreds of mil- 
lions of dollars in government, corporation, railroad, and other 
loans and securities. These securities are placed for invest- 
ment; they have no dealings with speculative bonds or stocks. 
Sound and sure transactions are the invariable rule. Along- with 
safety the honor of their banking houses for fair dealing is main- 
tained on the highest plane. An illustration of this occurred at 
the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. A large num- 
ber of travellers and tourists having Drexel letters of credit were 
at the time in Germany, Switzerland, France, and elsewhere on the 
continent, cut off from communication and compelled to remain 
where they were, because the railways and telegraphs were seized 
for exclusive government use. 

In this emergency Mr. Drexel directed a large amount of gold 
to be sent to Geneva and other places on the continent to protect 
their letters of credit, and authorized the holders of them, wherever 
they were, to draw through the local banks, in francs or sterling 
or marks or dollars, as would be most available to them. This 
cost the Drexels a great deal of money, but it gave instant relief 
to the holders of their letters, and shows the high standard of 
credit they set for their house. This spirit of scrupulously honor- 
able dealing characteristic of Mr. Drexel is shown in all transac- 
tions, including the treatment and preferment of the employes of 
the several houses. 

In the promotion of all good works, in Philadelphia especially, 
Mr. Drexel is always among the very foremost, and is relied upon 
usually as the person to take the lead ; and this he does with gen- 
erous heart and full hand, whenever a charitable or benevolent 
purpose is to be helped — an educational, art, scientific, or indus- 
trial institution or enterprise to be encouraged — or any project for 
the general welfare is to be advanced. A catalogue of instances 
illustrating this would be very long indeed. 

Mr. Drexel presented to the city of Chicago a magnificent foun- 
tain, to be placed on the " Drexel Boulevard," a noble avenue 



I9O A. J. DREXEL. 

named in honor of his father. The fountain was designed to be 
a memorial to their father, and is surmounted by a bronze statue 
eight feet high of the late Francis M. Drexel. 

In all matters outside of his business, in which he is strong and 
incisive, Mr. Drexel is one of the most retiring and unpretentious 
of men, disliking everything in the nature of display or self-asser- 
tion. His habits are of the quietest kind, with a strong inclination 
to art, especially in music — both brothers being expert musicians. 
No one observing his quiet demeanor could suppose that he is the 
great banker, whose name is like gold and inspires confidence 
everywhere, who has been sought for to accept the highest fidu- 
ciary positions, and who has declined the high financial office of 
Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. 

Beside his handsome home in Philadelphia Mr. Drexel has a 
beautiful country house at Bryn Mawr, near that of Mr. Childs. 
The friendship existing between Mr. Childs and Mr. Drexel is of 
the closet and most enduring nature. They have worked together 
in all good works for years in Philadelphia, and whatever one finds 
at his hands to do the other is ready to adopt as his nearest duty. 
Mr. Childs, in reply to the question of an intimate friend, who 
wished to know what he intended to do with the Ledger in his 
will, thus makes allusion to his friend : 

"At my death I hope to have an opportunity to repay in some 
degree the kindness of my more than friend, A. J. Drexel. When 
I was young and few knew me he came forward and offered to put 
money in my paper, and to interfere in no way with it. Our 
friendship has been more than that of brothers ever since. It has 
been my pleasure to pay him a handsome revenue on his invest- 
ment every year, but his kindness I can never repay. His son is 
imbued with my ideas of newspaper work, and I shall leave my 
paper to him." 

Mr. Drexel is said to be the wealthiest man in Pennsylvania; his 
capital is larger than that of all the banks of Philadelphia com- 
bined. 



GEORGE LAW. 

George Law, through his mechanical skill, is one of the rich 
men who have conferred a work of inestimable value upon the citi- 
zens of New York. As the builder of the greater portion of the 
Croton Aqueduct, and the constructor of the High Bridge at Har- 
lem, he has indelibly linked his name with the best interests of the 
city : successful bridge-builders ever deserve to be ranked among 
the benefactors of mankind, and George Law was one of the 
highest grade in his profession. Born in Jackson, Washington 
county, in the State of New York, October 25, 1806, he was the 
youngest of three sons; his father was a farmer, and his fate the 
common fate of farmers' boys seventy or eighty years ago : plenty 
of hard work and very little schooling. At an age when many 
city children are kept in the nursery little George was driving cows 
to pasture, and doing all of those out-of-door chores which it is 
possible for a child of eight years old to perform : increasing 
the circle and laboriousness of his work as the years passed on. 
No vacations for him ; he often used to say himself of those old 
days that he " never knew what it was to be idle." Nor did he 
regret this ; habit is second nature, and he never in after life wished 
to be idle. This ploughing, and planting, and reaping, with the 
care of cattle, lasted until the lad was eighteen ; then he made up 
his mind it must cease ; " he could not spend all his life on a farm." 
This state of mind had not sprung up suddenly nor altogether 
spontaneously ; he had enjoyed a few terms at the winter school, 
had learned to read and write, and had acquired the elements of 
arithmetic; he was very fond of reading, and having exhausted 
the few books in his father's domicile, borrowed all he could from 
the neighbors ; among these were some books of travel, which 

(191) 



192 GEORGE LAW. 

gave him ideas of the new and strange things to be seen outside 
the limits of his daily experience : the vague desires thus aroused 
within him were brought to a climax by a short visit which he 
made, on business for his father, to the city of Troy. In 1821 
Troy was an insignificant place, in comparison with its present 
size and business importance, but to the totally inexperienced lad 
of fifteen, who had never seen a paved street or a continuous row 
of houses before, it seemed a magnificent city ; his wonder and 
admiration of all that he beheld there fixed his intention to aban- 
don farming and seek some other mode of support; but according 
to the old custom he had still six years of service due to his father. 
Undismayed by the fact that he would not b'e " free " till he was 
twenty-one, he began to save every cent he could secure by doing 
work for neighbors or selling some little product of his own, and 
at the end of three years he found himself the happy possessor 
of forty dollars : this looked to him like a large sum with which to 
go out into the world and defy fate. 

Young Law was quite resolved on the course he meant to pur- 
sue ; the only obstacle that looked formidable to him was the pre- 
sumed opposition of his father; but he decided to meet this by 
promising to " pay for his time " so soon as he was able to earn 
the money. Fortunately his father took a sensible view of the 
situation, and gave his consent without much difficulty. Of course, 
knowing no other place, George set out for Troy: the distance 
was thirty-six miles, and this he determined to walk, not deeming 
it prudent to break his forty dollars to pay stage fare. The day 
he had settled upon for his journey opened with a violent rain- 
storm, but in spite of earnest dissuasions he declined to postpone 
his start, and actually set off in the face of a heavy rain, and 
plodded over the miry roads until he reached the city of his hopes 
— the fairyland of his imagination of which he had dreamed day 
and night for three long years. The denouement would not seem 
very romantic to the jeunesse doree of the present time. 

Putting up at the cheapest hotel he could find he set out imme- 



GEORGE LAW. 1 93 

diately to look for work; his aim was not to escape hand labor, but 
only to find enough of it to do ; as he knew no trade he could 
not pick and choose, but was ready to accept anything which of- 
fered. He first looked among the canal boats and then the 
machine shops; day after day passed, but nobody " wanted a hand." 
He was not entirely discouraged but was getting very anxious, 
when happening to pass along River street, where there was some 
building going on, one of the hod-carriers fell from a ladder and 
broke his leg ; most persons would have been repelled after wit- 
nessing such an accident from entering upon the dangerous work, 
but young George Law rather looked upon it as a providential 
opening in his favor: he immediately asked the foreman if he 
could have the man's place. Finding that this new applicant had 
never been accustomed to such work he warned him that he 
" would most likely break his neck ; " but finding that he was not 
to be deterred by fear of any risks he concluded to try him, offer- 
ing him one dollar per day. And the rich George Law used often 
to say in later life, " It was thus I began literally at the very foot 
of the ladder, and I tell you I was terribly afraid I should fall be- 
fore getting through that first day's work ; " but he persevered, 
and continued on the job until the house was finished ; and then 
hearing that there was similar work to be had at a place called 
Housic, he went over there and procured another engagement. 
His employer noticed his caution, promptitude, and faithfulness, 
and believing he was not meant to carry a hod all his days began 
to teach him the art of bricklaying ; this was a benefit to him, but 
when the house was completed there was no money forthcoming, 
the contractor having failed, and in consequence of this mishap 
young Law had to leave the place with his own board bill unpaid. 
He, however, immediately returned to Troy, procured work there 
as a bricklayer at better wages, and as soon as he had earned 
money enough he walked back to Housic, twenty-two miles, paid 
his bill, walked back again, and resumed his work. 

Whatever George Law did he tried to do it as well as it was 
J 3 



, ~ ■ 



194 GEORGE LAW. 

possible to be done ; he improved so much in his new trade, that 
in a few months he was able to earn $1.75 per day; he observed 
closely, and there was nothing in the way of work done in his 
presence that he did not learn how it was done. For seven long 
years it was still hand labor and day's wages. He could and did 
save something every year, though in this trade there were neces- 
sarily weeks when work could not be prosecuted on account of the 
severe cold and frosts. But he indulged in no vices, lived econo- 
mically, dressed respectably but not expensively, and when he 
travelled from one place to another in search of work, he almost 
invariably walked ; his sole luxury was books, and those which 
would give him some insight into the builder's art were freely 
bought and perused with enthusiasm ; he did not mean to be 
always a day-laborer. 

In 1833 Mr. Law married Miss Sarah Anderson, of Philadel- 
phia, a lady in every way calculated to encourage and stimulate 
his business enterprise, as well as making home a happy and quiet 
retreat from the toils and excitements of business. He made 
contracts in various parts of the country, and so good was 
his judgment that we have failed to find any instance in which he 
did not derive a good profit from his work. 

Mr. Law's first bridge contract was for the structure which 
spans the Lehigh river at Easton, Pennsylvania ; and on the com- 
pletion of this, he was for several subsequent years engaged on 
the upper division of the Lehigh canal, between White Haven and 
Mauch Chunk. These both proved very profitable contracts; his 
wealth grew with his reputation for skill and thoroughness, so that 
it got to be a common saying in the several regions where he was 
known, that "if George Law puts in a bid, he's sure to get the 
contract." In 1837 ne was approaching the great work which was 
to make him famous, not only in New York but wherever aque- 
ducts and bridges are heard of. In 1837 ne P ut m bids f° r three 
sections of the Croton aqueduct. Like every other great public 
work in the metropolis, the control of this fell more or less under 



GEORGE LAW. 195 

the influence of politicians, yet, in despite of this fact, Mr. Law, 
who was then a comparative stranger in New York, and had no 
political influence there, was awarded two of these sections, on his 
reputation as a master workman alone ; when this contract was 
filled, to the entire satisfaction of the commissioners, he made his 
great bid for the construction of the High Bridge. This magnifi- 
cent work, which, it was foreseen, would prove the fortune of the 
builder who should successfully complete it, was a prize worth 
struggling for. A host of competitors appeared, anxious to secure 
the award, which, it is needless to repeat, that Mr. Law carried 
off, though many of his rivals were far richer, and in a general way 
more influential than he. Merit, in this case, had its due reward. 
This enormous mass of masonry, elegant in its strength, can 
only be compared to the finest works of ancient Rome's palmiest 
days ; it required ten years for its completion ; water being let into 
the aqueduct and introduced to the city in 1849. 

Though now possessing a surplusage of wealth Mr. Law could 
not remain inactive. He turned his attention to banking and rail- 
road stocks. His first essay in this direction was the rescue of the 
old Dry Dock Bank from threatened insolvency ; he interested 
himself in its misfortunes, was elected to the presidency, and, by 
skillful and careful manipulation, restored its credit to a sound 
basis. 

In 1852 Mr. Law commenced a new enterprise in building the 
Eighth Avenue Horse Railroad, in New York city, and later the 
Ninth Avenue Road ; in regard to this there was a good deal of 
finessing before it attained a firm financial standing. Another 
profitable trade was his purchase of the Staten Island Ferry, in 
1859, for which he paid $60,000, selling out hvQ years later at a 
very large profit. He also held a controlling interest in the 
Roosevelt Street Ferry, and the Grand Street Ferry, both running 
between New York and the Eastern District of Brooklyn. Mr. 
Law's judgment as to what would pay appeared to be almost in- 
fallible. In general he kept out of politics. In 1856 the New York 



I96 GEORGE LAW. 

Herald nominated him as a candidate for the Presidency, but this 
movement collapsed, and that was the end of Mr. Law's political 
career. Mr. Thurlovv Weed, who was necessarily something of a 
literary critic, was ever ready to cite the fact, that three of the 
most successful men in the United States (considered as money- 
getters) were extremely illiterate; these he named as Commodore 
Vanderbilt, Dean Richmond and George Law, and since the furore 
of " Civil Service Reform," he was fond of remarking, that " if 
either of them had been called* to undergo a competitive examina- 
tion, even for night-watchmen in the custom house, or the hum- 
blest place as letter-carriers, they could not have obtained it;" 
adding, " I have letters from all of these gentlemen, in which not a 
word containing three syllables was spelled correctly." George 
Law was a man of strong build ; he was not polished ; but he 
looked what he was — a man of brains ! His mind was concen- 
trated on money-making, and his great will power enabled him to 
overcome formidable difficulties ; he would hardly be considered a 
genial man, being usually very reticent and not fond of society, 
unless he could turn it to account. He lived to the age of seventy- 
six; his death occurring in November, 1882, at his residence in 
Fifth avenue. His estate was approximately estimated at from 
$12,000,000 to $15,000,000. 



HORACE GREELEY. 
W 

Horace Greeley was one of the most peculiar men that ever 
sustained public relations with the American people. He was 
peculiar in his mental constitution, and in his personal appearance, 
and in his manners ; and his temperament appeared to change 
with surrounding circumstances : being sometimes mild and gentle; 
then again passionate, unreasonable, abusive. His character has 
never yet been carefully analyzed : he had too many friends and 
too many enemies, and the writers who have hitherto discussed his 
various qualities wrote either during his life or too soon after his 
death to be wholly cool and dispassionate. 

Horace Greeley was a native of New Hampshire, being born 
at Amherst on the 3d of February, 181 1. His father, Zaccheus, 
was of English stock ; his mother, Mary Woodburn, was of Scotch- 
Irish descent: the Greeley and Woodburn farms being contiguous, 
probably led to the marriage of Horace Greeley's parents. Neither 
of these parties had any property to commence with, and Zaccheus 
Greeley never acquired any considerable amount. Hence the boys 
in the family were early set to work, and hardly knew what leisure 
or recreation meant. The Greeley ancestors had a reputation for 
tenacity ; his immediate elders had evidently too much in one di- 
rection : holding on to a rough, hard, unprofitable farming country, 
instead of seeking betimes to better their condition by emigrating 
from the " Granite State." As Horace says, in his autobiography, 
11 picking stones is a never ending labor on one of those New 
England farms," and the little white-haired boy had 'more than 
enough of this to do ; but Horace w r as a precocious child, and he 
had a mother who took pleasure in reciting to him songs, ballads, 
and stories, so that he had really acquired a taste for literature 

(i97) 



1 98 HORACE GREELEY. 

before the age at which many children conquer the alphabet. At 
the infantile age of three he went to school — in bad weather hav- 
ing to be carried on his father's shoulder — but he had learned to 
read even before this : sitting by or before his mother, with the 
book on her lap, while she sewed or knitted. The book was often 
misplaced, and the child learned to read with it sideways or upside 
down almost as well as when properly placed, an accomplishment 
which came to his aid when he first took up a composing stick and 
began to set type : the reading of printer's matter was never any 
mystery to him. It is surprising to think how early and how de- 
cidedly this descendant of " mostly blacksmiths and farmers " made 
up his mind to be a printer ; and for this business he possessed 
another natural qualification — he was a perfect prodigy at spelling ; 
indeed, we think the ancient Dogberry must have known such an 
one when he gave his judicial opinion, that " to be well favored is 
the gift of fortune, but to write and read comes by nature." It 
certainly came very near to that in Horace Greeley's case. Such 
an excellent reputation did he obtain for correct scholarship and 
good conduct, that the school authorities in the town of Bedford, 
which was beyond his legal school district, passed a unanimous 
vote " that no pupils from other towns should be received into the 
school except Horace Greeley alone : " so far as we know an un- 
precedented compliment to a New Hampshire schoolboy. 

When Horace was about nine years old he persistently reiter- 
ated his intention to learn the printer's trade; but in 1820-21 his 
father removed to Westhaven, in Vermont, on to another poor 
farm, and the services of the boy could not be dispensed with. 
All the money he could procure he spent in books, brought by 
peddlers to the door. His savings, of course, were very small, 
but he generally had something on hand to sell ; wild honey which 
he had found in the woods, nuts which he had gathered, or kind- 
ling wood, consisting of pitch pine-knots, and such homely articles. 
The family took one weekly newspaper, and through this single 
medium the future editor of the Tribune found a link with the out- 



HORACE GREELEY. 



99 



side world. In this paper he one day read an advertisement of 
"A Boy Wanted " in a newspaper office. This rekindled his old 
desires, and without delay he started for the place, nine miles dis- 
tant, walking all the way, only to be disappointed in the end : the 
publisher said he was " too young." In fact, he was but eleven 
years old, and not either large or strong for his age, and with a 
peculiarly innocent, infantile look. As in his fifteenth year he felt 
that he could endure this sterile sort of farming no longer, he at 
last procured from his father a reluctant consent that he should 
definitely seek employment as a printer. He found the longed- 
for opportunity at East Poultney, Vermont, in the office of the 
Northern Spectator, and this time he walked eleven miles to obtain 
his first interview with the publisher. With this man an agree- 
ment was made for Horace to remain as an apprentice until he 
was twenty years of age, and on terms which would look very 
hard to the youth of this day. All the money he received was 
forty dollars a year for clothing, and out of this it was quite certain 
he bought many books and very little else for himself. Here at 
least he had some associations calculated to encourage his thirst 
for knowledge. He read the exchange papers, joined a debating 
club, and occasionally heard political speakers ; and, though he 
had to work on an old Ramage press, and was frequently exces- 
sively fatigued after his day's work, he was never satisfied to retire 
until he had spent some hours in study, and, having naturally a 
good memory, he was gradually storing up all sorts of miscel- 
laneous information, which helped to make him a full and ready 
writer when the right time came to use this pot-pourri of knowl- 
edge, for in his circumstance there was no opportunity for the 
systematic study of selected subjects. In the debating club his 
extraordinary memory gave him a great advantage, for he could 
always back up his opinions with facts, figures and anecdotes, 
while many of his seniors were wildly racking their brains to re- 
cover a name, a date, or some fact, once known, but long escaped 
into the limbo of forgotten things. Most of the members were 



200 HORACE GREELEY. 

much older than Horace, but knowledge proved power in that 
circle, and he was always listened to with respect. In other posi- 
tions his scanty wardrobe, unfashionable clothes and generally outre 
appearance often excited derisive comment. If he knew this, 
which is doubtful, he never betrayed any consciousness of the fact. 
His annual salary of forty dollars would have gone far in that 
place to have enabled him to make a presentable appearance had 
he spent it on himself, but instead of this he sent nearly the whole 
of it to his father, who was ever in need of money. During his 
apprenticeship he visited his parents twice, going a distance of six 
hundred miles, from Poultney, Vermont, to the west of the Alle- 
ghenies (for his father had removed to Pennsylvania), most of the 
way on foot, except when he could get a lift of a canal-boat or an 
invitation to ride from some ^ood-natured farmer. Should such 
another youth as Horace Greeley then was now appear upon any 
of our highways, dusty, shabby and travel-worn, he would un- 
doubtedly be stigmatized as "a tramp," and be avoided by all 
decent people. 

In the summer of 1830 the Spectator collapsed, and the office was 
closed ; and thus young Greeley terminated his apprenticeship some 
months earlier than his engagement designated. With a wardrobe 
that could be tied in a handkerchief, some knowledge of printing and 
a sore leg (which his brother said " he spent all his time in doctor- 
ing") he reached home; not, however, to remain long. His next 
engagement was on a paper at Sodus, Wayne county, New York, 
at eleven dollars a month. This was a political paper, advocating 
Democracy and General Jackson for President. For some reason 
he soon made another change, this time for the better, financially, 
as he received fifteen dollars a month, though on his first applica- 
tion at the office of the Gazette (a weekly paper) at Erie, Pennsyl- 
vania, his services were declined simply on account of his rustic 
appearance. But by this time Horace was not so verdant as he 
looked, and, persevering in his application, he asked the favor of 
being taken " on trial," and the result was that he gave perfect 



HORACE GREELEY. 201 

satisfaction, remaining seven months on the Gazette, and then left 
voluntarily to try his fortunes in New York. If the uncouth ap- 
pearance of the incipient editor had proved a hindrance in the 
country offices of Vermont and Pennsylvania, it may readily be 
imagined what an effect he produced upon the supercritical 
" typos " of the metropolis. 

Mr. Greeley was, on his first entrance in New York, August 
17th, 1 83 1, about twenty years of age, tall, slim, pale, with flaxen 
locks and a pale blue eye, and he always had a habit of wearing 
his hat on the back of his head, as if accustomed to star-gazing, 
which gave him, even late in life, a peculiarly " green " look, espe- 
cially as this was accompanied with a sort of shuffling gait, which 
appeared to betray an indecision of purpose. The writer has 
often seen him while editor of the Tribune, on Park Row, with his 
pockets stuffed full of papers, his hat on the back of his head like 
a sailor about to ascend the ratlines, with his spectacles slipping 
off, his boots trodden down one-sided, sometimes with one leg of 
his pantaloons in his boot, and altogether looking like a natural 
victim of whom " a sharp " might with impunity play his little game 
of " drop." But let any one who knew Horace just try to imagine 
with what an avalanche of expletives any mistaken rogue would 
have been greeted, had he made such an attempt ! 

It is probable that Mr. Greeley was still assisting his parents 
with remittances, for with his correct and temperate habits there 
seemed no other explanation of why he should have come to the 
city without a respectable suit of clothes, and all his personal 
effects in a handkerchief. This sort of economy may be carried 
too far, as it was in his case ; preventing him from getting a situa- 
tion, which a more respectable appearing person might have ob- 
tained. The late David Hale, editor of the Journal of Commerce^ 
to whom he applied for work, took him for a runaway apprentice, 
and plainly told him that he " knew he was." David Hale lived to 
appreciate to the full the mistake he made, yet he was not to 
blame for the very natural suspicion ; probably many others to 



202 HORACE GREELEY. 

whom Mr. Greeley applied, and who refused to employ him, 
thought the same, if they did not express it. In his search for a 
boarding-house he met with a somewhat similar experience. At 
the first house where he applied, on Wall street, on asking the 
terms, the answer was " Six dollars a week, but something cheaper 
will probably suit you better." And it did ; he wandered over to 
the north side and found, he said, "at 168 West street, the sign of 
' Boarding' on an humbler edifice ; I entered, and was offered shel- 
ter and subsistence for $2.50 per week, which seemed more 
rational, and I closed the bargain." In his ramblings in search of 
work, he visited every office of prominence and nearly all the 
others he could discover, but nowhere met the slightest encour- 
agement. He had only ten dollars on his arrival, and that would 
not pay board for long, and his clothes were of thin summer 
goods ; he was tired and discouraged, and had about made up his 
mind to leave the city : but on the Sunday some young men call- 
ing at the boarding-house hearing that he was a printer looking 
for work, one of them took enough interest in him to direct him 
to the jobbing office of Mr. John T. West, over McElrath & 
Bangs, publishers, at 68 Chatham street. Fortunately, at this 
time the late Mr. Ashael Jones, formerly of the firm of "Jones, 
White & McCurdy," dealers in " dental supplies," and still later, 
owner of the Clarendon Hotel at Saratoga, was at work at West's ; 
he had been a fellow-apprentice with Horace Greeley at Poultney, 
Vt. When the latter, early on Monday morning, entered the 
office in search of work, a mutual recognition of the fellow-appren- 
tices occurred. The proprietor was not in at the time ; but Jones, 
printer fashion, threw off his apron, and told his old chum to "take 
his case." When Mr. West came in he was struck with amaze- 
ment to see the sort of new hand he had at work ; the foreman 
informing him that it was "a man Jones had put on." "Well, 
clear him out," said West, " I won't have such a looking fellow in 
the place." The foreman suggested that Jones knew him, and it 
would be best to wait and see what he could do. The fact was 



HORACE GREELEY. 203 

that the job in hand was very undesirable, and such as no New 
York compositor cared to work on: it was "a very small 321110. 
Testament, set in double columns of agate type, each column only 
twelve ems wide, with a centre column of notes, in pearl, scarcely 
four ems wide ; the text, too, was thickly studded with references, 
by Greek and superior letters, to the notes, which, of course, were 
preceded and discriminated by corresponding indices, with prefa- 
tory and supplementary remarks on each book, set in pearl, and 
only paid for as agate." This, as every compositor knows, would 
have been very trying work for an old and experienced hand ; the 
type being so much smaller than that ordinarily used either on 
newspaper or books ; the frequency of italics and other changes 
of type added to the perplexity, so that it is no wonder, that with 
all his care and anxiety to succeed, his " first proofs looked as if 
they had caught the chicken-pox.' , 

Probably young Greeley did as well as any beginner could have 
done ; at least he was retained on the work. But it was neces- 
sarily very slow, and being sometimes kept waiting for letter, for 
the first # two or three weeks he hardly earned enough to pay his 
board ; but on being assured of the work, he removed his lodgings 
from West street to a place on the corner of Chatham and Duane, 
so that he could be near the office, not lose any time, and could 
work evenings, making twelve or fourteen hours a day ; by such 
assiduous labor, after he got accustomed to the small type, he 
made about six dollars a week. But the harder he worked, the 
sooner he found himself out of a job. The Testament completed 
he was again out of employment. During a fortnight's interim, 
before he found other work, he spent the time alternately seeking 
it, and sitting as a listener at a tariff convention, which was holding 
a session at the American Institute building, then situated near 
City Hall. Here undoubtedly he picked up some ideas afterwards 
put to use in the Tribune. His next job was on a new magazine, 
which soon died of inanition, and for which work he did not get 
his pay. By this time West had a new work on hand, and he got 



204 HORACE GREELEY. 

" a case there." This book was a commentary on the Book of 
Genesis, by Rev. George Bush. The chirography was intolerably 
bad — almost as bad as Greeley's came to be in time ; but it was 
work, and he was glad to get it, continuing until its completion, 
when he was again thrown out. The difficulty of securing steady 
employment at the case made him seriously think of seeking some 
other source of support ; but times were dull, openings few, and 
not to be readily had by a stranger. However, in January of 1832, 
fortune began to smile upon his unwearied efforts ; he procured a 
situation on the Spirit of the Times, a sporting paper, the foreman 
of which was Mr. F. V. Story, who afterwards became his partner. 
The young firm hired rooms on the corner of Nassau and Liberty 
street. It was in this office that the first penny paper ever pub- 
lished in New York was printed. It was got up by a young man 
named Shepherd, and was called the Morning Post, but it was 
short-lived, and the principal dependence of the firm was the print- 
ing of Sylvester's Bank-note Reporter. All the money invested by 
Greeley and Story was about $240, Mr. George Bruce granting 
them credit for some additional material. This first partnership 
arrangement of Horace Greeley's was prematurely broken by the 
sudden death of Mr. Story, who was drowned in June, 1833. His 
place in the business was supplied by Mr. Jonas Winchester, and 
early the next spring (March, 1834) Mr. Greeley commenced his 
first editorial work, the firm publishing a weekly paper called the 
New Yorker, which lasted until the March of 1841, when it went 
under, with a credit on its books of $10,000 due to Mr. Greeley for 
editing the paper, all of which was sunk with the wreck. But the 
debts which the firm owed to others troubled him far more than 
what he lost in the concern himself. His expressions on this sub- 
ject are pathetic in their intensity. " For my own part," he says, 
" and I speak from sad experience, I would rather be a convict in 
State's prison, a slave in a rice-swamp, than to pass through life 
under the harrow of debt. If you have but fifty cents, and can get 
no more for a week, buy a peck of corn, parch it, and live on it, 
rather than owe any man a dollar." 



HORACE GREELEY. 205 

While editing- the New Yorker, Mr. Greeley was also during the 
latter part of the time supplying editorial articles (sub rosa) to the 
Daily Whig, and since March, 1838, editing a Whig campaign 
paper published at Albany, called The Jeffersonian ; it was a 
weekly, and was continued for a year. No light task this to edit 
two papers and write for a third, one of them at a distance of 155 
miles from his office in New York. For editing the Jeffersonian 
Mr. Greeley received $1,000 per annum, the first permanent 
reliable salary he had yet been able to command, and he was now 
nearly thirty years of age. It was immediately precedent to the 
Harrison campaign, that Mr. Greeley started on his own account a 
small weekly paper called The Log Cabin, It was commenced in 
May, 1840, and the intention was to publish it six months only, 
the object being to aid in the election of General William H. Har- 
rison to the Presidency. It appeared simultaneously in Albany 
and New York. Into this project Horace Greeley threw all the 
spirit and energy of which he was possessed ; it was lively, and the 
articles short, sharp and decisive. It was a success from the start. 
Big figures, in the way of newspaper circulation, had not begun to 
roll up into the 100,000 and over of modern issues, and when an 
edition of 48,000 was sold of the first number, the publishers 
could scarcely take in the fact; the resources of the office were 
taxed to the utmost, and finally, editions of 80,000 and 90,000 were 
reached, a number unprecedented in the history of newspaper 
printing in the United States. The Log Cabin also outlived its 
destined term of existence, and the object for which it was pro- 
jected, surviving the election of Harrison in November, 1840; it 
was finally merged, in the spring of 1841, together with the New 
Yorker, into the Tribune, the first issue of which reached the pub- 
lic on the 10th of April, 1841. 

Afraid as Mr. Greeley was of debt, the Tribune was founded on 
credit. He had to borrow $1,000 at the start, and had only six 
hundred subscribers assured; but it gained rapidly, perhaps the 
more so that it was violently attacked by the editor of the Sun, 



206 HORACE GREELEY. 

chen in the hands of Moses Y. Beach. The defence and rejoinders 
were equally pungent and amusing, and, opposition being the very 
aliment upon which Mr. Greeley always throve best, the spicy re- 
torts, and especially his partisan enthusiasm, forced the attention 
of the public, and the subscription-list of the Tribitne soon rose 
from hundreds to thousands ; by the third week in May it had 10,- 
ooo names on its books. New and more powerful presses had to 
be bought to work off these large editions. Advertisers came 
rushing in, and it became absolutely necessary for the over- 
whelmed editor to seek a business partner. Mr. Greeley had no 
gift for business ; his thoughts were always flying away from the 
study of balance-sheets to considerations of morals or politics; he 
would rather discuss, editorially, the finances of the nation than 
the details of his own expenses. The Tribune office would soon 
have become a modern spectacle of chaos had not its financial 
affairs been taken in hand by a competent financier. This good 
angel of the " profit and loss " account was Mr. Thomas McElrath, 
through whose efficiency and good management was soon brought 
order out of confusion, making the "Tribune office not only one 
of the best conducted, but one of the best paying in the city." 

The Tribune was started as a morning penny paper. At the expira- 
tion of a year it was somewhat enlarged and the price raised to two 
cents. In 1843 an evening edition was published, and in 1845 tne 
semi-weekly. This same year the Tribune office was burned out ; 
but that event did not interrupt the issue — only delayed it a few 
hours, neighboring presses being offered to print the paper until 
new arrangements could be made for permanent quarters. For a 
year or two the profits were drawn upon to offset the loss ; but the 
Tribune was now an established fact in New York, and the mere 
accident of a fire could not affect its stability. 

When the affairs of the Tribune were reorganized, it was in the 
form of an association ; business experts valued the establishment 
at $ 1 00,000 — its annual revenue was $30,000. Mr. Greeley was 
at last in receipt of an income which must have been to him super- 



HORACE GREELEY. 20J 

fluous. The editorial columns of the Tribune had constantly argued 
in favor of the association of capital and labor, and the time had 
now come to put this theory to the test, to prove its faith by its 
works. The Tribune property was divided into one hundred 
shares of $1,000 per share, each share carrying with it one vote 
in the management of the company. A person owning only one 
share had a real sense of ownership in the building and in the 
association, but, as Messrs. Greeley and McElrath owned the 
great majority of shares, the decisions on every point remained 
practically with them for many years. 

Besides the newspaper, "Greeley and McElrath'' published the 
American Laborer, a. monthly, mainly devoted to the advocacy of 
protection. In 1868 they commenced the publication of the Whig 
Almanac, since changed to the Tribune Almanac, which contains a 
mass of information, statistical, political, etc. 

Besides his duties as editor, Mr. Greeley was frequently in the 
lecture-field, and in 1850 he published a collection of his addresses 
and lectures, entitled " Hints Toward Reform." In 1851 he went 
to England to visit the great exposition of that year in London. 
He was appointed one of the judges on hardware ; and, having 
accepted the position, no one need be told that he did his best to 
make a careful and just award. At the Richmond banquet he 
made a very telling speech while proposing the health of Joseph 
Paxton, the architect of the Crystal Palace. He was also a wit- 
ness before a parliamentary committee, met to consider the repeal 
of the " Taxes on Knowledge " bill, as the duties on papers, 
advertisements and on periodicals was called by its opponents. 
He travelled on the continent, but about as rapidly as steam 
could convey him, with little opportunity for obtaining a knowl- 
edge of the countries he passed through, but nevertheless pro- 
duced quite a readable book as the result of his observations, 
called " Glances at Europe." The next year he completed and 
published his friend Sargent's " Life of Henry Clay." 

About 1852-53 Mr. Greeley made large additions to the since 



208 HORACE GREELEY. 

famous Chappaqua farm in Westchester county, New York, 
where, to the depletion of his purse and the amusement of his 
satirical friends, he endeavored to put his theoretical knowledge 
of farming into practice ; but the raising of cucumbers and beets 
did not absorb his mind to the exclusion of literary topics. In 
1856 was written his " History of the Struggle for Slavery Exten- 
sion, or Restriction, in the United States from 1787 to 1856." 
Three years later he visited California, taking Utah, Kansas and 
Pike's Peak on the way, and, of course, a book was the result on 
his return. His next work was his history of the wars of seces- 
sion, entitled " The American Conflict," completed and published 
in 1867; this is a large work in two volumes. Then followed 
" Essays on Political Economy " and " Recollections of a Busy 
Life " — his own autobiography. Next " Letters from the South- 
west and Texas " and " What I Know About Farming." 

To make an inventory of what a man has done is not always to 
justly describe what a man is. To get an interior view of Mr. 
Greeley's life we must review briefly, how and in what spirit he 
edited his paper, wrote books, addressed audiences and spent his 
money. Though in the main a self-impelled man, Mr. Greeley's 
life was undoubtedly much influenced by his wife, whom he mar- 
ried in July, 1836. She was a lady deeply imbued with the ultra- 
transcendentalism of the period ; she was also a vegetarian, and so 
eccentric in her views of life, and of the training of children, as to 
be, in the opinion of many of her best friends, far from a healthy 
normal condition of mental health, though originally of keen intel- 
lect and well educated. Horace Greeley was devoted to her. 
It was, perhaps, in a measure due to her influence that Mr. 
Greeley took up with such zeal the cause of Fourierism, becoming 
a devoted follower and exponent of this theory for reorganizing 
society as explained by Albert Brisbane, who arrived in New York 
from Parts in 1841. Page after page of the Tribune was devoted 
to this subject, until monotony took the place of interest, and sub- 
scribers began to weary as the novelty wore off, when, fortunately 



HORACE GREELEY. 200, 

for the readers of the Tribune, Mr. Greeley entered into a formal 
discussion of the subject with his former assistant, Henry J. Ray- 
mond, then on the Courier and Inquirer, and later known as the 
editor of the Times. These pro and con arguments lasted six 
months ; of course each claimed a victory, but at its close the doc- 
trines of Fourierism were banished from the Tribune, to the great 
relief of thousands of readers. During this episode Mrs. Greeley 
united with the " Brook Farm" experiment, a Yankee modification 
of Fourierism developed in Massachusetts. From this time for- 
ward the Tribune began to be regarded as the natural organ of 
all sorts of isms, but at the same time as a paper of great literary 
merit. Mr. Greeley was a very earnest and emphatic writer: there 
was nothing vague in his style ; it was impossible to mistake his 
meaning ; he had positive opinions on all subjects upon which he 
touched. Hence, he drew devoted followers and admirers on the 
one side, while exciting the most bitter opposition from the uncon- 
vinced. The first political frenzy of the Tribune was " Clay and 
Protection," and with this, and made of almost equal consequence, 
was "Irish Repeal," "Mesmerism," "Advocacy of the Water- 
Cure," "Phrenology," and "Anti-Capital Punishment." Mr. Gree- 
ley opposed the Mexican war, the Native American party, Trini- 
tarianism, and the Drama ! He was the most pugnacious of edi- 
tors, and was much stronger in a fight than when unopposed. In 
1848 he was elected a representative to Congress. He had hardly 
taken time to shake off the dust from his journey to Washington, 
when he began an attack upon what he considered a great abuse 
in that legislative body ; this was the " Mileage System," or the 
custom of the members receiving pay at so much a mile for what- 
ever distance they travelled from their homes to the seat of gov- 
ernment. This system, honest and reasonable in its origin, had 
been outgrown, through the modern facilities for travel, and had 
become a source of peculation and corruption ; but the attack in 
this case was almost quixotic, both in its bravery and its useless- 
ness; it created a flutter of excitement in the public mind, which 
14 



2IO HORACE GREELEY. 

lasted until obliterated by a newer sensation, but had no other 
effect on the House of Representatives than to excite the ill-will 
of the members who were annually profiting by this antiquated 
mode of compensation. Mr. Greeley was only three months in 
Congress, and though very active and conscientious, by his so uni- 
formly assuming a bellicose attitude, came to be regarded as a 
man to be avoided. He excited some amusement, too, by declin- 
ing to sit at " all-night sessions," retiring when he thought it was 
the proper time to seek repose. 

The Tribune had been a Whig paper, so long as there was a 
Whig party to represent; but after the defeat of General Scott, in 
1852, the Tribune declared itself independent, though it was 
speedily recognized first as a Free Soil paper, and then as a Re- 
publican. Perhaps the most surprising of all the self-revelations 
with which Mr. Greeley ever and anon surprised his friends, was 
that remarkable letter which he addressed to " Seward, Weed & 
Co./' as he termed the Republican leaders, and in which he be- 
trayed the bitterest disappointment that he had not been "ap- 
pointed to some office." Considering the great influence which 
Mr. Greeley exerted as editor of the Tribune, and in the councils 
of the party of the large share he had in forcing the nomination of 
Mr. Lincoln, thereby depriving Mr. Seward of what might have 
been considered a just claim on the Republicans, as the oldest 
capable leader of the political ring of the Anti-Slavery party, it is 
strange that he did not see his position to be as honorable as any 
within the gift of a Cabinet officer. Another point was the mis- 
judgment shown in making this complaint to Thurlow Weed, the 
" king-maker " of Albany, who had always refused office himself, 
on the ground that he could wield more real power, as the adviser 
" behind the throne," than by the occupation of any office whatever. 

During the late war Mr. Greeley's course was most erratic and 
unstable. The Tribune had been considered in the South an 
"Abolition " paper ; Mr. Greeley had condemned all the prelim- 
inary movements of the secessionists, and had come very near de- 



HORACE GREELEY. 211 

manding the impeachment of President Buchanan. The South 
regarded Greeley as one of their bitterest enemies, and would 
naturally have looked anywhere for aid and comfort sooner than 
to seek it in the Tribune office. Just at the crisis of affairs, when 
every word from an influential source was capable of turning the 
scale for good or evil, Greeley astounded his friends, dismayed 
the hearts of the loyal, and put a ready weapon into the hand of 
secession, by his ill-timed, ill-considered article, "Let the South 
Go!" At this precise moment there were gathered in a New York 
hotel fifty Southern officers, who had been educated at West 
Point, and who had convened in the metropolis to discuss the point, 
" Whether they were bound by their oath to the government, or 
whether their prior and natural allegiance to their native States 
justified their going over to the Southern army." The evening 
discussion had remained undecided ; but in the morning, when the 
Tribune appeared with the startlingly unexpected head-line, " Let 
the South Go ! " the advocates for secession among these officers 
were triumphant, and all felt that if the Tribune, and an anti- 
slavery paper, was willing to " Let the erring sisters go in peace," 
that the rest of the community might be depended upon to 
acquiesce. The immediate result of that article was to cause those 
fifty officers to vote that they " resign their commissions in the 
United States Army and join their brethren in the South." But 
no sooner had these men taken advantage of his advice than Mr. 
Greeley took another tack; and the "erring sisters" having 
attempted to "go," then the Tribune was the first to get out its 
lasso to try and pull them forcibly back again. Before the admin- 
istration was ready with its plans, before the inchoate Union Army 
was half drilled, or any considerable body of cavalry was properly 
organized, Mr. Greeley broke out with his unreasonable clamor 
of " On to Richmond ! " doing all that it was in his power to, do 
(and the Tribune was a power in Washington then) to precipitate 
the disaster of Bull Run. Then, when the Union cause looked 
dark, "despairing of the Republic," he rushed to Canada to discuss 



2 1 2 HORACE GREELEY. 

unauthorized, with Confederate envoys on foreign soil, terms for a 
treaty of peace, disgraceful and injurious to the United States ; yet 
all this time the Tribune flourished, until it received another shock, 
when one fine morning its readers learned that its senior editor 
had gone to Washington to offer bail for Jefferson Davis!* By 
what system of reasoning Mr. Greeley justified these mental gym- 
nastics, it would be difficult to tell ; but throughout all these ter- 
giversations he kept a hold upon a large class of readers who 
believed in him, to whom he was a mental and moral lawgiver, 
who refused to believe any evil of him ; and, if some visitors to the 
city — for a large proportion of Tribune readers were country and 
particularly Western people — on coming back, reported that in 
an interview with Mr. Greeley, the editor had indulged in un- 
limited profanity, the unlucky individual was incontinently dis- 
credited, lost caste, and was tacitly voted a calumniator. 

In 1872 a curious political combination was made. General 
Grant was nominated for a second Presidential term ; many Repub- 
licans, like Mr. Greeley himself, were advocates of but one term 
for that office. In May a call for a convention was made by the 
liberal Republicans and free traders, a party which Horace Greeley 
had always opposed, and against whom his book on political 
economy was principally aimed. Mr. Greeley's friends had worked 
hard to secure the attendance of a large delegation devoted to 
him. Thus the body was made up of disaffected Republicans, free 
traders, and dissatisfied Democrats, with " Greeley men " of any 
principle, if they could only elect their candidate. Probably such 
a surprise was never sprung upon the country as the nomination 
of Horace Greeley to the Presidency, by a convention of derelict 
Republicans, free traders, and bolting Democrats, whom he had 
been fighting all his life. When first reported it was received as 
a ca?iard ; when convinced of the truth, it "made the judicious 
grieve," and the surprise of the nomination was only equalled by 

*0n this occasion one of the editorial staff, Mr. Wilkinson, resigned in a " natural rage " at this 
action, Mr. W. having had a son and six nephews in the Union Army. 



HORACE GREELEY. 2 1 3 

the readiness with which Mr. Greeley accepted it. In July the 
nomination was endorsed by the Democratic Convention. Had a 
nomination been tendered him by the Republican party, for whom 
he had labored since its organization, it might have been thought 
as somewhat extravagant reward for partisan service, but there 
would have been nothing inconsistent in it; as it was, nothing could 
be more so, both on the part of the nominators and the nominee. 
That he should be defeated was inevitable. Strange to say, his 
experience as an editor, his own bitter vituperation of political 
opponents, had not prepared him for the attacks which were 
instantly made upon him by his late friends of the Republican party 
— he could not digest the ridicule of the caricaturists; he worked 
hard through the canvass, travelling and addressing meetings; body 
and mind suffered from the fatigue and excitement. To add to 
the nervous disturbance, Mrs. Greeley, who had been out of health 
for a considerable time, died at this period ; he had tenderly 
watched over her day and night, and altogether the burden became 
too great for him to bear. But the culminating trial was his ex- 
clusion from the Tribune management. Greeley, expecting to be 
elected to the Presidency, had withdrawn from the editorial 
chair; when the crushing defeat came, if he could have vented his 
chagrin freely through the old channel, it is possible that this might 
have proved a safety-valve, and at least have delayed, if not alto- 
gether averted, the catastrophe ; but this relief was denied him. 
The Tribune association had fallen under other influence. The 
old chief was in fact, if not ostensibly, deposed, and a new king 
reigned. What was left for Horace Greeley but to die ? And he 
died before the month was out, on the 29th of that fatal November 
which slew him politically ; he had passed from earth to the great 
beyond, where there is rest for the weary. Horace Greeley's 
" busy life " was over ; the physicians giving it as their opinion, 
that if his body had survived the fong strain of over-work, it was 
impossible that the mind could recover its tension. 

The large body of persons who sustained the Tribune, and per- 



214 



HORACE GREELEY. 



sonally idolized the Greeley of their imaginations, was largely 
made up of those belonging to what was called "the party of 
modern ideas : " abolitionists, total abstinence advocates, socialists, 
transcendentalists, free-soilers, anti-dramatists, and others of that 
ilk. They were an effective party, for they were aggressive in 
their opinions ; and in the main Mr. Greeley did deserve the trust 
reposed in him as a moralist. His inconsistencies chiefly arose 
from his temperament, but this made him particularly unsafe as a 
political leader. No one could foretell what tack he would take ; 
and his very honesty of purpose might suddenly disarrange the 
programme of party management. He was equally capricious in 
his personal friendships and in other matters. Himself a Univer- 
salist in belief, he caused his daughters to be educated in the Ro- 
man Catholic faith. It is not known precisely what amount of 
money Horace Greeley left, but that he was able to sink a fortune 
in a farm at Chappaqua, and to lend without surety some $800,000 
to the late " Corneel Vanderbilt," proves that he must have earned 
enough to be reckoned among the millionaires. But it was emi- 
nently characteristic of the man that while he was thus lending 
over two-thirds of a million of dollars to a stranger in no way 
worthy of his respect, and who had no shadow of claim upon him, 
he persistently refused to procure for his own brother, a decent, 
respectable farmer, the appointment of mail agent, which he ad- 
mitted he could easily have done. His brother, Nathan Barnes 
Greeley, of Erie county, Pennsylvania, tells the story thus : 

" When Lincoln was elected I took a notion that I would like to 
have the appointment of mail agent on one of our local roads. 
The salary was $1,000 a year, which was a big thing for me. I 
knew Horace could get me the appointment. I spent some money 
travelling around and getting recommendations, and I succeeded 
in getting what I thought was sufficient. I had letters from a 
number of leading business men along the route as well as from 
the party men, and these I forwarded to Horace with a letter ask- 
ing him to help me. What do you suppose he did ? He wrote 



HORACE GREELEY. 215 

back, returning my recommendations, with the information, penned 
in his own hand, that he could get the appointment for me without 
the slightest trouble, but that he didn't want to do it. He wanted 
me to stick to the farm. He said I was the only boy (a gray- 
haired man) at home, and he thought it best that I should stay 
there. I wrote back and explained to him that I could be at home 
quite frequently; that at that time the salary of $1,000 a yeaf 
would help me out very considerably ; that another party had of- 
fered to take the position for $500 a year. I wound up by urging 
him to help me to the appointment. His reply was this : ' If 
another man offers to do this service for $500, and you expect 
$1,000, that is an excellent reason why you should not have it; if 
you had it the government would be losing $500 a year.' " 

At this time Mr. Greeley's father and mother were both dead. 
Mr. Greeley's affection was concentrated upon a few persons, 
and consanguinity had little to do with it. His patience and for- 
bearance had equally its elective affinities. In his own family he 
had his favorites, and among his friends some could demand any- 
thing of him while others were rebuffed without mercy ; while a 
comparatively new acquaintance, a young, graceless spendthrift, of 
no kin to him, could draw his thousands at will from the Greeley 
exchequer, a simple request from the very oldest friend he had in 
the city, the person who procured him his first job of work in New 
York, was disregarded with contumely. This gentleman, Mr. 
Ashael Jones, once gave a friend a letter of introduction to Mr. 
Greeley, with the request " that he would aid an old friend of his 
to procure some subordinate position in the custom house." 
Scarcely had Mr. Greeley glanced over the note and ascertained 
its purport than he commenced to assail the bearer, a respectable 
middle-aged American gentleman, with a volley of oaths and vi- 
tuperation because he did not "go west," instead of "hanging 
around the city looking for an office." The gentleman, who was 
aware of Greeley's early obligations to Mr. Jones, and expected at 
least a civil answer, even if the request could not be complied with> 



2l6 HORACE GREELEY. 

and who had only known of the editor of the Tribune as " the 
great expounder of moral ideas," was amazed beyond measure at 
such a reception, and incontinently fled from the storm. 

Mr. Greeley's great domestic trial was the loss of a young son, 
of whom he was specially fond, and who died in 1849. They had 
already lost three children, and " Pickie," the well-beloved, had at- 
tained the age of five years : his real name was Raphael, and he 
was a beautiful child. At the time he died — very suddenly of mem- 
branous croup — Margaret Fuller was the Tribune correspondent 
in Rome, and her letters were full of the momentous changes of 
'48, and the grand disappointments in Italy in '49. When Mr. 
Greeley announced his loss to Margaret Fuller, he wrote : " You 
mourn for Rome betrayed, I mourn for Pickie dead/' and the latter 
event to him was of far greater importance than the fate of Rome. 
Mr. Greeley left no surviving son : his eldest had died an infant, 
but two daughters were left of the family at his decease. The 
eldest, Miss Ida, was married to Colonel Nicholas Smith in May, 
1875. She was a woman of fine intellectual gifts, and had for 
several years before her father's death presided over his house- 
hold. The other daughter, Miss Gabrielle, is now the last surviv- 
ing member of the family : Mrs. Smith having died at the age of 
thirty (in 1880), leaving three children; the eldest, a son, is named 
Horace Greeley — without the addition of the paternal cognomen 
— the parents agreeing that the boy should bear that name with- 
out any other patronymic. 

The money which Horace Greeley had loaned to the late Cor- 
nelius Vanderbilt was repaid by him to the two surviving daugh- 
ters, on the 9th of April, 1879, after the death of his father, "the 
Commodore." 

On Oak avenue, in Greenwood Cemetery, on the crest of a hill 
overlooking the Bay of New York, stands a granite pedestal, eight 
feet in height, bearing a portrait bust, of heroic size, of Horace 
Greeley ; this memorial stands in the centre of a circular plot, 
twenty-five feet high in diameter, enclosed with a low curb of ham- 



HORACE GREELEY. 2 1 J 

mered granite ; the initials H. G. and the word Ida being grown 
in colored plants in front of the pedestal. This monument to Mr. 
Greeley was erected to his memory by the printers of New York ; 
the bust itself, and two tablets inserted in the pedestal, being com- 
posed of type-metal, which readily lends itself to the artist's and 
moulder's skill. Mr. Greeley's form is shown nearly to the waist, 
but armless ; it represents him with the historical overcoat thrown 
back, showing the inner pocket, filled with letters and papers. On 
the front of the pedestal, on the metallic plate, is the full-length 
figure of a young man at the case, his copy before him, his stick in 
the left hand, the right resting on a box in the upper case, ready 
to " pick " up a " cap." The tablet on the rear contains the simple 
inscription: "Horace Greeley, born February 3d, 181 1. Died 
December 29th, 1872. Founder of the New York Tribune, C. 
Calverly, Sc, 1876." On the right-hand side of the pedestal, 
in alto relievo, is represented a plough, as symbolical of Mr. 
Greeley's early surroundings ; on the left is a scroll of paper 
partly opened, across which lies a pen. This spot is one always 
shown to visitors by the guides who direct strangers at Green- 
wood. 



MATTHEW VASSAR. 

The name of Matthew Vassar is destined to be one of the im- 
perishable, not because he was good, or rich, or generous ; not for 
these things alone, for others have been all that these qualities 
imply, and have yet only attained to a local or temporary fame ; 
but Matthew Vassar had the wise insight, not only to do an ex- 
ceedingly noble thing, but to do something which had never been 
done before, thus becoming the great pioneer, which we hope will 
find many imitators, but which he copied from no one. Other 
people have given large sums of money for the founding of edu- 
cational institutions, and even for the establishment of girls' schools 
and academies ; but Matthew Vassar was the first to endow a col- 
lege for young women, in which they may learn all that is taught 
in the old established colleges for men, and much more besides. 
In his great gift he recognized the principle so well expressed by 
the late Madame D'Arusmont: "Human kind is but one family : 
the education of its youth, male and female, should be equal and 
universal." Up to the time of the opening of Vassar College 
there was no institution for young women, where they could re- 
ceive an " equal " education with their brothers. 

Matthew Vassar was of English birth but of French stock, his 
ancestors coming from France about 1700, and settling in the 
county of Norfolk, England ; the name was then written Le Vas- 
seur, the article being dropped in course of time, and the spelling 
becoming Anglicized before any of the family reached this country. 
The first of them, who carne with the intention of settling here, was 
James Vassar, the grandson of the French emigrant to England — 
there had been one visitor of the name here before, in the person 
of General Lafayette's private secretary. The family in England 
(218) 




MATTHEW VASSAR. 



MATTHEW VASSAR. 219 

had been well-to-do farmers and wool-growers in Norfolk county ; 
they were not driven here by stress of poverty, but being dissen- 
ters from the established church, felt themselves restricted and 
oppressed ; they were Baptists, and as such objected to paying tithes 
to the parish parson, and to be treated as social pariahs by the 
adherents of the state church. It was liberty of thought and 
speech which they sought, and not solely to better their condition, 
for, with the exception of oppressive laws, they were very well off 
in old Norfolk. 

For these reasons it was that, in the 'year 1 796, James Vassar, 
of East Durham, Puddenham, Norfolk, left his English home, and 
with his wife and four children, of whom Matthew was the young- 
est, sought these shores, pilgrim fashion, that he might enjoy lib- 
erty of conscience. There came with him also a brother, Thomas. 
On this voyage little Matthew was nearly lost, a heavy sea carry- 
ing him off his feet, and he would inevitably have been washed 
overboard but for the net-work above the taffrail. In his short 
life of four years he had already experienced three narrow escapes 
from death; but none of these had injured his excellent constitu- 
tion. 

The family were induced to visit Dutchess county, and finally 
selected a farm site near the small village of Poughkeepsie — some 
one hundred and fifty acres on Wappengis creek. The family oc- 
cupied a temporary home until their own house was built on the farm, 
one of the attractions of which was a natural growth of a plant they 
loved full well — the hop-vine, for at that period no respectable Eng- 
lish farmer ever thought of doing without his own home-brewed ale. 

Unfortunately for Mr. Vassar's purposes, there was no barley 
to be had, so in the autumn, brother Thomas went back to 
England, to get a supply of the needed seed, and before another 
season came round, the good ** nut-brown October" was welcomed 
to the family circle, like a long-missed friend. Some of the neigh- 
bors were treated to a draught, and the fame of this strengthening 



220 MATTHEW VASSAR. 

fluid spread through the place. James Vassar was not the man to 
miss his opportunities, so he very soon began to brew for sale, the 
good wife taking a barrel in her market-cart, beside her butter and 
eggs, with little Matthew by her side, and went retailing it in the 
village ; but its reputation spread so that this primitive mode was 
insufficient to supply the demand, and the brothers Vassar decided 
to give up the farm and establish a brewing business ; this suc- 
ceeded remarkably, and Matthew's eldest brother Guy assisted his 
father in it, and was content to do so. But, when it came Mat- 
thew's time to go into the brewery to work, he rebelled against it; 
he hated the business, and so reluctant was he to take any part in 
it, that his father determined to apprentice him to a tanner, but 
this did not suit his taste any better ; he tried to induce his father 
to change his mind, but the old gentleman was resolute; the in- 
dentures were made out, and the day set for him to enter the 
tannery of a neighbor as an apprentice. But this was not to be. 
Matthew had secured his mother as an ally. She sympathized 
with the boy's desire to "go and seek his fortune,' , as a better 
alternative than to be chained for seven years to a business he 
detested. So early one morning, the two walked off together, 
to go to the ferry at New Hamburg, a distance of eight miles ; 
the lad had a few articles of clothing in a handkerchief, and his 
mother gave him all she had — seventy-five cents ; and with that 
outfit he crossed the Hudson, not to appear at home again for 
four years. 

Matthew's aim was at that time to reach Newburg, and seek 
employment there. He had walked all day, and towards evening, 
feeling very tired, he accosted a farmer who was driving a wagon, 
and asked him to let him ride a little way. The man took him 
up, but scanned him very closely, and then charged him with being 
a " runaway." Matthew did the best thing he could do ; he told 
his name and all the circumstances, just as they were, awakening 
the sympathy of his conductor, who knew Mr. Vassar by reputa- 
tion, and he invited Matthew to stop at his house that night. This 



MATTHEW VASSAR. 221 

kind-hearted man, whose name was Butterworth, lived at a small 
village named Balm Town, near Newburg. In the morning he 
took Matthew over to his son's store, and asked him to take the 
boy in and find him something to do. Here he commenced as an 
errand-boy, swept out, took down and put up shutters, lit the fire 
in winter, brought water, and did all the chores that boys are ever 
called upon to do. But this drudgery did not last long ; the young 
proprietor saw he was worth too much as a salesman ; he was 
quick, appreciative, learnt values quickly, was civil and obliging, 
and the customers liked to deal with him. He learnt to keep the 
accounts, and as he was earning some money, though not much, 
he was better content, as he often used to say in after life, than if 
he had been working for nothing as an apprentice. He remained 
with Mr. Butterworth three years ; and then, being seventeen 
years old, he took the position of clerk with a merchant who paid 
him $300 a year, which was then considered a very good salary. 
He stayed with this person a year, and then a longing to go home 
and see his mother seized him — also, perhaps, he had a desire to 
show the $150 which he had saved. With this, having proved that 
he could earn his own living, with something to spare, he was on 
a better footing to discuss business with his father, and he now 
consented to enter the brewery establishment as book-keeper and 
collector. All went well for about a year after Matthew's return 
home ; then came two terrible misfortunes. The brewery was 
burnt down, there being no insurance upon it, and Guy, Matthew's 
elder brother, suddenly died, by entering one of the half-burnt 
vats, thinking to save some hops, but was suffocated by the accu- 
mulated gas. Mr. James Vassar did not attempt to re-establish 
his business, but retired to a farm, on which he spent the remainder 
of his life. 

Young Matthew now thought only of retrieving the family for- 
tunes in the promptest way possible; he therefore on his own 
account resolved to turn brewer. Being his own master, this did 
not seem to him so irksome as in his boyhood. He had just 



2 22 MATTHEW VASSAR. 

enough means to start in a very small way. His sister Maria had 
married a Mr. Booth, who was a woollen manufacturer in Pough- 
keepsie ; he happened to have a vacant dye-house, and this Mat- 
thew Vassar procured in which to commence his brewing. His 
apparatus was so limited, that he could only make a few barrels at 
a time, and these he sold in small quantities, serving his customers 
personally. But what he made was thoroughly well made, and 
gave great satisfaction. His business grew, and soon his limited 
quarters in the dye-house became too small for him, and he hired 
part of the basement of the county court-house ; this was in the 
spring of 181 2. Here he opened a shop for the sale of oysters, as 
well as for the ale which he brewed. This was a great novelty, 
and drew immediately ; there had never been an oyster saloon in 
Poughkeepsie before, and it soon became the rendezvous of the 
lawyers, the politicians, and all the habitues of the court-house, 
transient travellers, and the farmers who came to town took the 
opportunity to visit the " new saloon." Mr. Vassar at this time 
seemed to have a monopoly of the barley trade ; as his family was 
the first to introduce the grain in that section of the country, and 
his father still raised it on the farm, he also sold the " grains " to 
farmers after it had gone through the vat for feed, and after the 
business of the day, every evening found him waiting upon cus- 
tomers in his saloon till midnight. Poughkeepsie was growing ; 
it was one of the most thriving towns on the Hudson ; and as the 
population increased, Matthew Vassar' s business extended. Still 
it had only about 3,000 inhabitants, but, so far as appears, Mr. 
Vassar had no formidable rivals to compete with ; the field was 
his own. 

Mr. Vassar had been less than a year established in the court- 
house when he ventured on matrimony: on the 7th of March, 
18 1 3, he was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Valentine. 
They commenced housekeeping in a very modest way, hiring part 
of a house at a rental of forty dollars a year ; but his wife knew 
how to make a little go a great way, and they lacked no essential 



MATTHEW VASSAR. 223 

comfort. Still for his business he required more capital than he 
possessed, and he was all the time conscious that with sufficient' 
means he could add immensely to his profits. Fortunately help 
came at the right time: a gentleman named Thomas Purser, who 
was somewhat of a connoisseur in ales, and had often enjoyed his 
mug in Vassar's saloon, proposed of his own accord to go into 
partnership with our young brewer. This was precisely what he 
needed, as Mr. Purser had capital, the only thing which Matthew 
Vassar lacked. The firm-name became " M. Vassar & Co.," and 
they proceeded to erect an extensive brewery in the summer of 
1814. Henceforward the head of the firm devoted his whole at- 
tention to the brewing of the now famous ale, and gave up his 
connection with the saloon. This partnership was the real founda- 
tion of the wholesale business, and was every way satisfactory 
while it continued; but Mr. Purser's health failing at the end of 
two years he withdrew from the business. Two other gentlemen 
were afterwards received as partners, Messrs. Nathan and Mul- 
ford Conklin, and this connection was maintained for thirteen 
years; when, in 1829, Mr. Vassar bought out their interest, con- 
ducting it for three years alone, when he invited his nephews, 
Matthew Vassar, Jr., and John Guy Vassar, to become partners in 
the concern. These young men were the sons of his brother, 
John Guy. 

The old firm-name was still retained of " M. Vassar & Co. ; " but 
the young members of the firm were pushing, enterprising men, 
and there was plenty of business for all of them to attend to. At 
the end of four years it was found necessary to provide a larger 
establishment, and a large brick building was erected contiguous 
to the river, near what is known as the Main Street Landing. 

Mr. Vassar had no sooner released himself from the old firm (in 
1866), of which he was the origin, and for thirty years the head 
and main spring of the business, than he proceeded to put into 
execution a long-cherished project for revisiting his old home in 
England, to see other parts of Great Britain, and to make the 



224 MATTHEW VASSAR. 

"grand tour" of the continent of Europe. Beside his wife only 
one other person accompanied him ; this was a young man named 
Cyrus Swan, who afterwards took an active part in the building 
and organization of Vassar College. He was a person of liberal 
education and a pleasant companion, and it was on the invitation 
of Mr. Vassar that he travelled with the retired brewer and his 
wife, during their prolonged journey in search of relaxation and 
the novelties of foreign lands. This comfortable little party of 
three, for two of whom Mr. Swan would sometimes find occasion 
to act as interpreter, left New York in the latter part of April, 
1845, m a sailing vessel, which was twenty days in making the 
voyage, landing at Portsmouth, England, in the pleasant month of 
May. 

Mr. Vassar was at this time about fifty years of age, in good 
health and in prime condition to enjoy and appreciate his long 
holiday, which he had earned by thirty-seven years of toil since 
the day he put the Hudson river between himself and the dreaded 
tannery. Besides the place of his birth, of which he had retained 
only the vague recollections of a child of four years, one of the 
most interesting spots to him, as a Vassar, and as it proved one 
of the most fertile in good results, was his visit to Guy's Hospital 
in London. The Guys were related to the Vassars, being united 
in the old French ancestry, and in more modern times by marriage. 
Thomas Guy, the founder of this charity, was a native of London ; 
he made most of his large fortune in the purchase of government 
securities, in the reign of Queen Anne, buying at a depreciated 
rate from those who could not wait for their paper to come to ma- 
turity: many of these were naval officers and the holders of 
sailors' prize tickets. He also made enormous sums out of the 
South Sea Company: that wretched "bubble" which wrecked so 
many amateur speculators. When this swindling company burst 
in 1720, Guy had got rid of all his bonds at fabulous prices, being 
among the very few who saved themselves by not holding on too 
long to the worthless stock. He was then approaching the end 



MATTHEW VASSAR. 225 

of his seventy-eighth year : never having married he had no heir 
for his wealth, nor any very near kin then living. He had given 
large sums to St. Thomas' Hospital during his life, and a few years 
before his death he consecrated the bulk of his fortune to the 
building of a similar charity which should bear his name ; and 
when Matthew Vassar read on the pedestal, which bears a life-like 
statue of Thomas Guy, standing in the great quadrangular court 
of the hospital, these words: "Thomas Guy, sole founder of this 
hospital in his lifetime, A. D. MDCCXXL," the idea which struck 
him most forcibly was that his ancient kinsman had not waited for 
his executors to carry out his will — he had carried it out himself; 
and though an old man before the building was commenced, he had 
lived to see it roofed in, and was sure at least that his coffers full 
of guineas had not found their way into Chancery Court. Mat- 
thew Vassar then and there determined he would do something of 
the same kind, only he would not leave it till so late in life. 

Having visited everything of interest in the British Isles, they 
left for the continent, going first to Belgium. While in England 
Mr. Vassar had wisely engaged an experienced person, who had 
been several times over the customary routes in Europe, and who 
spoke several of the continental languages, to go with them as 
guide and general manager of the tour. Passing through Germany 
and Switzerland to Italy, they returned by the way of the Mediter- 
ranean to France, thence back to England ; and then in February, 
having been absent ten months, returned to their quiet home in 
Poughkeepsie. 

The sights of Florence, Rome and Paris had not obliterated Mr. 
Vassar's intention " to do something " with his large fortune. He 
had no children, and therefore was not embarrassed with any 
claims upon it but such as he chose to recognize ; but he could 
not readily make up his mind what to do. His first idea was, very 
naturally, to build a hospital, like Thomas Guy, but he did not, like 
him, live in a large city, and there really was no particular need 
of a large hospital in Poughkeepsie. Then he thought of an 
15 



2 26 MATTHEW VASSAR. 

asylum for the old and infirm, but there was no pressing necessity 
for that, either, on a large scale, and he had no desire to found a 
petty institution of any kind. While he was thinking over various 
projects, circumstances at last directed his thoughts towards female 
education. He had a niece who was a teacher of more than local 
reputation in Poughkeepsie ; this was Miss Lydia Booth, the 
daughter of his sister Maria. Her school was very popular with 
the best citizens of the vicinity, and her rooms could not accommo- 
date all the pupils for whom application was made, and Mr. Vassar 
very generously purchased, and transferred to her use, a com- 
modious house, with several acres of ground attached, which had 
once belonged to the family of the great landed " Patroon " Liv- 
ingston. Here, on this elevated piece of ground on Garden 
street, Miss Booth opened the " Cottage Hill Seminary." Having 
conferred a substantial benefit on his niece, he naturally took an 
interest in her success, visited the school frequently, and listened 
always with pleasure, and often with profit, to her lucid explana- 
tions, and was a witness to the excellent system of management 
"which the clear head and kind heart of Miss Booth had established 
at Cottage Hill. He often conversed with her on the subject of 
the higher education of females of which she was an ardent advo- 
cate, and there is no doubt that it is to this lady's influence upon 
her uncle that Matthew Vassar finally determined to devote his 
fortune to that object. Still he did not hurry; he meant to take 
plenty of time for consideration and for consultation with those he 
deemed his wisest friends ; and other objects of immediate public 
interest also occupied much of his time. 

At this period the village of Poughkeepsie was governed by an 
elective body called the board of trustees, equivalent to the 
" selectmen " of New England towns. Mr. Vassar long filled the 
position of president of this board, and consequently much of his 
time was taken up with official duties. 

Mr. Vassar had at last fully decided to what object his money 
should be devoted, but he was naturally a very cautious man, -and 



MATTHEW VASSAR. 227 

he meant to have all the preliminaries well considered before pub- 
licly committing himself. He consulted with eminent architects as 
to the costs of one or more buildings, calculated to accommodate 
four hundred pupils, with rooms for teachers, servants, and other 
necessary appendages. He meant that this institution should be 
upon a magnificent scale as to equipment, accommodations of all 
kinds, furnishing included; and many experienced persons were 
consulted as to the details of the interior arrangements. Mr. Vas- 
sar was neither selfish nor egotistical, and was not anxious to reap 
all the glory of this intended achievement; he invited his two 
nephews, Matthew and Guy Vassar, to join him in this undertak- 
ing, but they declined; their time for this kind of work had not 
yet come. In respect to active participation in carrying out Mr. 
Vassar's plans (though he did not contribute any of the funds), 
Professor Jewett was his principal coadjutor. Mr. Swan drafted 
the bill to be presented to the Legislature, incorporating " Vassar 
Female College." The act of incorporation was passed at Albany 
on the 18th of January, 1861, and was signed by the governor in 
advance of all other bills. The above name was changed and im- 
proved by act of a subsequent Legislature, in'i 867, by omitting the 
word female. The institution became simply "Vassar College." 
Of the incorporators nearly half were either residents of Pough- 
keepsie or vicinity, and a majority of them were Baptists, but they 
wisely declined to give any sectarian bias to the college. Immedi- 
ately after the act of incorporation was passed, on the 26th of Feb- 
ruary, 1 861, Mr. Vassar called a meeting of the incorporators, at 
the Gregory (now Morgan) House, in Poughkeepsie, and there pre- 
sented to the trustees a tin box, in which was contained the funds, 
$400,000, appropriated by him for the founding of the college. 
These consisted of certificates of stock, bonds and mortgages, and 
a deed of conveyance of two hundred acres of land for the building 
site and surrounding grounds. Matthew Vassar, Jr., a nephew of 
the founder, was chosen treasurer of the board, and the funds were 
placed in his custody. Professor Jewett was chosen president. 



2 28 MATTHEW VASSAR. 

The college site and farm land attached is situated about two 
miles from the centre of Poughkeepsie, on the easterly side ; it is a 
beautiful location, containing woods, lawns, a clear, pure lake, on 
which rowing is practised in summer and skating in winter, ele- 
vated knolls, from which extensive and beautiful views are obtained. 
Ground was broken for the building on the 4th of June, 1861, by 
Mr. Vassar, in the presence of a few friends; this first spadeful of 
earth is preserved in a jar in the geological cabinet of the college. 
The work of raising this large building went on through the whole 
four years of the civil war, and was opened for the reception of 
pupils in the fall of 1865. And thus Matthew Vassar had the 
satisfaction, like Guy, of London, of seeing his great work com- 
pleted " in his lifetime." 

Vassar College is very nearly five hundred feet in length, with a 
breadth, through the centre, of two hundred feet, with transverse 
wings of one hundred and sixty-four feet ; it is of brick, with trim- 
mings of blue freestone ; the central section is five stories in 
height, the wings four; there are five partition walls of brick, fire- 
proof, extending from the cellar to the roof. There are within the 
building twenty-five thousand feet of pipes for gas and water, and 
six thousand feet of lightning-rods scientifically spread over the 
building. There are separate apartments for the officers and 
managers, halls for lectures, a chapel, music-rooms, dining-hall, 
parlors, library, art gallery, natural history cabinet, chemical labora- 
tories, kitchen, laundry, etc. There are separate buildings for the 
gymnasium, riding-school, and astronomical observatory ; the col- 
lege is particularly rich in philosophical apparatus ; and in the art 
department there are, in the main gallery, over five hundred care- 
fully selected paintings and sculptures. In the medical lecture- 
room all the newest and most approved models are found. The 
upper floors are used as dormitories. Its natural history collection 
is unsurpassed by any college in the country. 

The college faculty had early resolved that the 29th of April, 
which was the anniversary of the birth-day of Matthew Vassar, 



MATTHEW VASSAR. 229 

should be annually observed as a holiday by the collegians ; it is 
called " Founder's Day." On the first anniversary which occurred, 
the students decided to give their honored friend and patron a 
public reception, in token of their gratitude. Wishing to give Mr. 
Vassar a pleasant surprise, he was not informed of the arrange- 
ments. It was his seventy-fourth birthday anniversary ; late in the 
afternoon of " Founder's Day " the president of the college rode 
out to Springside, as if making an ordinary call, and asked Mr. 
Vassar to go over to the college with him ; this was an ordinary 
enough proceeding, and awakened no suspicion of anything unu- 
sual. But what a sight met his view immediately after entering 
the broad avenue beyond the porter's lodge ! Covered with ever- 
greens was a noble triumphal arch, on which were the words, 
" Welcome to the Founder," with his monogram and the dates, 
"April 29th, 1792-April 29th, 1866," while brilliant banners and 
gay flags waved gracefully in the gentle breeze. Before he had 
time to thoroughly take in the meaning of this, the students, in 
two columns, under the lead of a young lady acting as marshal, 
formed a marching escort on each side of the carriage, and above 
every smiling face waved a white handkerchief in salutation of 
their benefactor, while at the main entrance stood the faculty and 
teachers, on the broad portico ; while a little to the rear a choir, 
composed of the best voices in the college, burst into a song of 
welcome, written for the occasion. So totally unprepared was Mr. 
Vassar for this spontaneous and heartfelt ovation, that, though 
usually ready enough in speech, words failed him, and happy tears 
alone betrayed his emotion. In the chapel a programme of ad- 
dresses and music had been arranged for the evening. Here, in 
a prominent position, was a portrait of "the Founder" trimmed 
with evergreens, and above it, in illuminated letters, were the 
words, " The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul." In that 
hour who shall say that Matthew Vassar did not feel more than 
repaid for all the time, trouble and money which he had conse- 
crated to the work of female education ! 



2 2,0 MATTHEW VASSAR. 

Nor had his work been completed any too soon for him to see 
the matured fruit of the seed which he had planted; only two 
years more of life remained to him. One day, leaving home in 
apparent health, he went as was his custom to a meeting of the 
trustees of the college ; he wished to impress upon the minds of 
the gentlemen present some views which he deemed essential to 
the welfare of the institution, and in his closing sentences there 
seemed some feeling of premonition that his work was done. 
These were his closing words : " Now then, gentlemen, I leave the 
college in your charge ; I do not believe that I will ever have occa- 
sion to address you again." Saying this, he waved his right hand, 
as if to enforce his remark, his head dropped backward on the 
chair ; some of the trustees attempted to raise him- — Matthew 
Vassar was dead. He had done for Vassar College all that 
he could in his life, and his will testified for him after he was 
gone, that its interests were the nearest and dearest object of his 
heart, outside of his own household. It was not alone in the noble 
endowment which he left that his influence in favor of the proper 
education of women was felt ; but perhaps even more effi- 
cient than the money which he devoted to this work was his 
influence upon other leading minds throughout the country, which 
were led by this practical example to acknowledge, not only the 
feasibility, but the practical benefit of the thorough mental training 
of the future mothers of the land. But though dead, Matthew 
Vassar's spirit was marching on ; and for his special object of 
interest one of his kin stood ready to take his place. 

Matthew Vassar, Jr., "the founder's nephew," and a son of his 
brother, John Guy Vassar, became the inspiring spirit of the insti- 
tution, and his history is almost as interesting as that of his uncle. 
He was born in Poughkeepsie in 1809, in the famous old Van 
Kleeck house, which was the first substantial dwelling built in that 
vicinity. It was constructed of rough stone by Baltus Van Kleeck 
in 1 702, who was one of the early immigrants from Holland, and 
was regarded by the inhabitants as a sort of garrison in case of 



MATTHEW VASSAR. 23 1 

attack by the Indians, the upper portion of the walls being pierced 
for musketry. John Guy Vassar, the eldest brother of " the 
founder," married Margaret, a daughter of Baltus Van Kleeck, a 
descendant of the original settler. This house was a rallying 
point for all the patriots of the " Poughkeepsie Precinct," and here 
in 1788 (the house being then an inn, and the court-house having 
been burned down) the convention met which ratified the present 
form of the National Constitution. From his earliest youth, 
Matthew Vassar, Jr., must have absorbed into his intellectual life 
the many glorious reminiscences connected with his birthplace. 
He never knew his father, for that father was the young John Guy 
Vassar who, when this son was too young to retain his image in 
his memory, was suffocated in the hop-vat, after the fire had de- 
stroyed James Vassar's brewery. Matthew received his education 
in his native town, and when he was seventeen years of age he 
entered into the employment of his uncle, at the famous brewery, 
of which he and his brother, John Guy Vassar, became partners; 
and in this business both continued until 1863, when they retired 
to enjoy the fortunes they had earned by faithful industry and 
intelligent enterprise. Mr. Vassar was twice married ; in 1834 to 
Mary Parker of Poughkeepsie, who died in 1851. In 1870 he 
married a daughter of Mr. Edward Beach, who still survives ; but 
of neither of these marriages were there any children. He was a 
person highly respected by his fellow-townsmen, and was for many 
years a town trustee, and a member of the board of education, but 
would never consent to hold any political office, nor that of mayor, 
which was frequently urged upon him, though he accepted many 
positions of private trust. He was for nearly forty years a Di- 
rector in the Farmers' and Manufacturers' National Bank, also a 
Director and Manager of the Commercial Insurance Company of 
New York, a Trustee of the Poughkeepsie Lyceum ; he was 
President of the Board of Trade, and also of the Society for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and one of the Advisory Com- 
mittee of the Old Ladies' Home. 

It was Mr. Vassar's nature to take up with great earnestness 



232 MATTHEW VASSAR. 

whatever he engaged in, which made his co-operation especially 
appreciated by his uncle, in the organization and permanent man- 
agement of Vassar College. In fact his official position of treasurer 
of that institution occupied the greater part of his time for the last 
twenty years of his life. He had no salary, but yet was con- 
scientiously at the college every day, and personally overseeing 
every detail within his proper sphere. His investment of the funds 
intrusted to him was made with great judgment. After his death, 
when a successor became necessary, it was found that the bonds 
and stocks which he held for the benefit of the college were all 
above par, many of them bearing an interest of from ten to forty- 
five per cent. In 1879, when the trustees wished to erect a new 
laboratory for the department of chemistry and physics, they were 
at a loss to raise the necessary funds; some of them proposed to 
obtain credit for part of the building expenses, but Mr. Vassar 
would not listen to this, and finally said, that if his brother John 
Guy would join him, they would build the laboratory without asking 
for any outside help. His brother acceded to the proposition, and 
the new laboratory was built, and equipped in a manner not ex- 
ceeded by any other in the United States. 

These brothers also united their funds to build and liberally 
endow in 1880 a home for aged men ; this house is on the site of 
the old block-house built by Baltus Van Kleeck. In making the 
presentation to the board of managers, and at the same time add- 
ing an endowment of $30,000, Mr. Vassar said, that " as Providence 
had blessed him and his brother John with some of this world's 
goods, they had deemed it proper to do something for their fellow- 
men, and that they had come to the conclusion that old men who 
had no one to care for them were especially deserving of protection 
at the hands of those who had enough and to spare. This home, 
designed for fifty inmates, is fitted up in a very liberal style, with 
library, reading-room, a general meeting hall for use of a social 
and scientific society ; a laboratory, and an art gallery, etc. It has 
also spacious grounds, tastefully laid out — a pleasant asylum in- 
deed, for an otherwise friendless old age. Another project of the 



MATTHEW VASSAR. 233 

brothers, completed since the decease of Matthew, is the " Vassar 
Brothers Hospital," at a cost of $300,000. 

Mr. Matthew Vassar, Jr., was like his uncle, "the founder," a 
member of the Baptist Church: an active member in it, but never 
obtruding his theological belief on others. He was for nearly 
twenty years a trustee and clerk of the church in Lafayette street, 
and to it and towards the construction of a new edifice was a liberal 
contributor. Mr. Vassar died at Poughkeepsie, after a short illness, 
on the 10th of August, 1881, in his seventy- third year. He had a 
large property in banking and other stocks, quite separate from 
his interest in his uncle's brewery business. By his will, after lib- 
erally providing for his wife, and making bequests to a number of 
his nephews, nieces, and other relatives, and legacies to all the 
charitable institutions in Poughkeepsie, as well as to all the 
churches of different denominations, including the Society of 
Friends, also to other associations of the town, and to the fire de- 
partment, and to some societies in New York, he gives to Vas- 
sar College $50,000 to found a " Matthew Vassar, Jr.," scholar- 
ship fund, to aid poor scholars in the payment of board and tuition 
fees, and $80,000 to endow two chairs, one for certain languages, 
the other for natural science ; to his executors, for the purpose of 
erecting the hospital previously mentioned, he leaves $75,000, and 
an endowment of $10,000. Mr. Vassar, to provide against all con- 
tingencies of a legal nature, directs in his will that if any of his be- 
quests should be adjudged, they shall revert equally to his wife and 
his brother, John Guy, " with the confident assurance that they will 
appropriate such moneys in accordance with my wishes " — a very 
wise provision. 

John Guy Vassar, brother of the above and nephew of Matthew 
Vassar, Sr., is still living, and active in good works. His latest 
gift to Vassar College is the handsome sum of $25,000. Active 
benevolence did not spoil any of this family as business men ; they 
accumulated great wealth, some portion of which we have here 
recorded the disposition of, but of their private acts of charity, 
which were large and continuous, the recording angel alone knows 
the sum and the objects e 



WILLIAM E. DODGE. 

William Earle Dodge was for half a century one of the lead- 
ing merchants of the city of New York, though he was a native 
of Connecticut — being born near Hartford in 1805. His father, 
David Low Dodge, was a cotton manufacturer, his mill being situ- 
ated in Bozrahville, near Norwich ; and in this mill William E. was 
employed after a few years schooling, which did not exceed the 
most elementary branches of education. About 181 5-1 7 the cot- 
ton manufacture declined ; the business was abandoned, and Mr. 

D. L. Dodge removed with his family to New York. Here he 
dealt in dry-goods, having a partner named Ludlow. William 

E. commenced his mercantile career as a boy in the wholesale 
dry-goods store at 304 Pearl street, near Peck Slip ; he began 
at the foot of the ladder, taking down shutters, lighting the fire in 
the old-fashioned wood stove, sweeping out the store, carrying 
parcels and messages, and whatever was required until promoted 
to a clerkship. He continued in this employment until the age of 
twenty-one, when he opened a retail store in a small way in 
connection with a young man named Huntington, a college gradu- 
ate and not acquainted with the business ; but having some means, 
being the son of one of his late employers: the latter assisting the 
young people by endorsing their paper to some extent — long 
credits being then common. The new firm prospered, and three 
years later Mr. Dodge married a daughter of Mr. Anson Phelps 
— a name known to every old New Yorker. Mr. Phelps was 
-already a wealthy man, an importer of metals, and with his partner, 

Elisha Peck, had founded two manufacturing towns, Ansonia and 
Birmingham, and in 1833 had erected a large warehouse on the 
corner of Fulton and Cliff streets ; shortly after it was occupied 
(234) 



WILLIAM E. DODGE. 235 

this building suddenly fell down, seven persons only being in the 
place at the time, some of whom were hurt. The place was re- 
built and William E. Dodge was invited to become a member of 
the firm, with another son-in-law of Mr. Phelps — the firm-name 
becoming now Phelps, Dodge & Co. 

Mr. Dodge appears never to have had any serious reverses in 
his business life. He soon began to invest money in land, and 
about 1862 he bought the large tract of timber land on Pine creek, 
in Pennsylvania, and built a saw-mill at a place called Jersey Shore. 
This was the first of those enormous accumulations of land which 
eventually made him one of the largest individual land-owners in 
the country. His transactions in lumber were afterwards extended 
to the South and Northwest ; forest tracts of from one hundred 
thousand to five hundred thousand acres being successfully pur- 
chased by him in West Virginia, Georgia, Texas, Michigan, Wis- 
consin, and even in Canada. Coal and railroads next attracted : 
the profits of the first being greatly dependent upon the develop- 
ment of the latter. 

He was one of the original incorporators of the Erie, and re- 
mained on the board of directors for twelve years, and held the 
same position on the New Jersey Central from 1843 to 1 ^73- The 
Delaware, Lackawana & Western was organized in his office, and 
subsequently he became President of the Houston & Texas Rail- 
road, which office he filled for seven years. He was a member of 
the New York Chamber of Commerce as early as 1855, and in 
1863 was elected vice-president of that body, and in 1867 presi- 
dent. He was one of the founders of the Mutual Life Insurance 
Company, the Atlantic Mutual Marine Insurance Company, the 
Bowery Fire Insurance Company, the United States Trust Com- 
pany, the Greenwich Savings Bank, the City Bank and the Ameri- 
can Exchange National Bank, and in all these institutions he 
served on the board of directors from their organization until the 
time of his death. Besides all these offices and duties, the busi- 
ness of the firm was never neglected. He owned an immense 



236 WILLIAM E. DODGE. 

number of lumber mills, and employed for years two thousand 
persons in the various manufacturing villages which he and his 
partner had established in various parts of the country ; yet he 
seemed to find time to control this varied business, to attend meet- 
ings and preside at the Chamber of Commerce, to meet his 
brother directors at the various banks, besides fairly meeting all 
his social engagements, attending public meetings, occasionally 
lecturing, running Sunday-school and temperance societies and 
acting as a ruling elder in the church. What he did not do 
appears easier to tell than what he did. 

William E. Dodge was brought up in the faith of the Presby- 
terians, and from this creed he never diverged. When he was 
only twelve years old he was converted during a revival season 
and became a member of the church, and his whole life was pro- 
fessedly based upon Christian principles. Indeed, his affiliations 
with Christian associations, missions and collateral objects are 
about as numerous as his business connections. 

It is but just to mention his own explanation of the fact that his 
firm was sued by the United States Government in 1870 to re- 
cover $1,000,000 for alleged undervaluation of imports made by 
Phelps, Dodge & Co. Mr. Dodge said that the charge was false 
and instigated by a discharged clerk ; that there might have been 
unintentional errors in invoices, but there had never been any in- 
tention to defraud the Government. The suit was compromised 
by the firm paying to the Government $271,017.23. Mr. Dodge 
settled by compromise, he said, because he was an old man, and 
his senior partner older ; that they did not feel like being dragged 
into litigation which might last for years, and during which they 
might die before vindication came ; but, he further said, that if he 
had been a younger man he would have defended the suit to the 
bitter end. The Chamber of Commerce, of which Mr. Dodge 
was at the time president, formally expressed their firm conviction 
in the integrity of the firm ; and the other justifying fact is that 
the United States officers were willing to settle for almost a 



WILLIAM E. DODGE. 2 Z7 

quarter of the sum claimed. If there had been frauds to the 
amount of one million dollars, why settle for less than three 
hundred thousand ? The reader may perhaps be better able to 
judge of this matter after ascertaining the uses to which Mr. 
Dodge devoted a great portion of his wealth ! 

Mr. Dodge was a strict Sabbatarian, of the old Puritan type, 
and went so far as to sell out his railroad stock and to abandon 
his official position on the several roads with which he was con- 
nected as soon as the majority of the directors voted to run 
Sunday trains. So strict was he in his views of the sacredness 
of the Sabbath, that he refused to be present, on the invitation of 
General Newton, at the interesting occasion of exploding the 
great rock at Hell Gate, because it took place on a Sunday. 

On another occasion, when a reporter for the daily press called 
to see him in regard to a proposed new charter for the city, he de- 
clined to see him, not on the ground that he objected to be 
" interviewed," but that he " never engaged in secular conver- 
sation on the Sabbath," that being the day the reporter had 
selected, hoping to find him at leisure. When the new penal 
code was inaugurated, Mr. Dodge was one of its most zealous 
supporters, and actively engaged in trying to secure strict con- 
formity to it, so far as it affected the observance of the first day of 
the week. To those who entertain broader views of the legiti- 
mate uses of the day of rest Mr. Dodge's action on this subject 
may seem overstrained and even puerile, but at least there can be 
no doubt that he was entirely sincere and honest in the views he 
expressed upon this matter. 

He was a great friend of " revival " preachers, and was one of 
those who aided in inducing Moody and Sankey to come to this 
country, and who paid the necessary expenses of fitting up the 
Madison Square Garden (then known as the Hippodrome) for their 
services. Another mode of Christian work, somewhat out of the 
common course, was his establishment of the "Jerry McAuley 
Mission," in the old Cremone Garden. This was a mission de- 



-238 WILLIAM E. DODGE. 

signed to reach the most hopeless and degraded classes, and was 
at first started in Water street, one of the lowest localities in the 
great city of New York. Nothing in the way of Christian work 
looked hopeless to Mr. Dodge. City missions among the very 
poor were among his pet hobbies, though neither his sympathy 
nor his aid was limited to that particular branch of benevolence. 
His was one of the heaviest towards the erection of that fine and 
commodious building on Fourth avenue and Twenty-third street, 
the Young Men's Christian Association. 

Mr. Dodge did not limit his Christian sympathies to his own 
land. He was President of the Board of Commissioners for 
Foreign Missions, and contributed liberally to establish the mission 
in Syria, and the Women's College at Beyrout. He was appointed 
a delegate, and took an active part in the convention of the Evan- 
gelical Alliance, which met in New York in 1873. It was a com- 
mon thing, if one visited a Presbyterian Sunday School in any part 
of the city, to find Mr. Dodge making an address, or to hear that 
he had recently done so. He was Vice-President of the Union 
Theological Seminary, and of the New York Colonization Society. 
He was a Director on the Board of the American Bible Society, 
the American Tract Society, and of the Syria and Liberia Protestant 
Colleges. It was not only his own race for which he worked and 
expended two or three ample fortunes in gifts and donations. The 
colored people and the Indians received their share. Mr. Dodge 
was greatly interested in the Lincoln and Biddle Universities, and 
gave largely both to them and to the institutions at Hampton and 
Carlisle, for the education and civilization of the red race. 

It is not easy amid so many benevolent and charitable institu- 
tions with which Mr. Dodge was connected, to say which had the 
leading place in his mind ; but perhaps it would not be far from 
wrong if this position were ascribed to the temperance cause, or 
to be more exact, the Total Abstinence movement. Extreme in 
all his views bearing upon the duties and regulations of life, he 
early identified himself as a soldier of the modern crusade, against 



WILLIAM E. DODGE. 239 

"all which will intoxicate." The National Temperance Society 
was organized in 1865, in Mr. Dodge's office in Cliff street; he 
also gave $20,000 to the society, towards a working capital of 
$100,000. He bought immense quantities of temperance litera- 
ture, to be distributed among the freedmen. He frequently went 
before Congressional committees, to give testimony in regard to 
the liquor traffic. He was engaged to speak at a temperance 
meeting, to be held in the great hall at Cooper Union, when he 
was seized with his last fatal illness. Dr. Irenaeus Prime, an old- 
time friend of Mr. Dodge, wrote, shortly after his death, in the 
columns of the New York Observer, these, among many other 
beautiful things, regarding his life. He says: 

11 1 have often heard him relate his experiences as a boy in a 
store, contrasting his duties as the youngest clerk with the work 
of boys now. His father was a prosperous man of business, and 
might easily enough have brought him up in idleness, which is 
supposed by many fools to be the same as brought up a gentle- 
man. But the lad was placed as a clerk in a store, and it was his 
duty in the morning to take down the shutters and get things 
ready for business. To do this he had to get up before daylight 
in winter, and hurry down to the store ; and all day long he was 
running of errands, carrying parcels home for customers, and 
doing anything else that he was told to do. This discipline he saw 
was good for him, and it would be better for the boys now if they 
went through the same seasoning process. It is good to bear the 
yoke in youth. At the age of twelve he began the service of 
Christ, and never left it for a day till he heard his Master say, that 
Friday morning, * Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' 

" One of the most beautiful chapters that Dr. Nicholas Murray 
wrote was the sketch of the prayer-meeting at aunt Betsey's; it 
w r as on Ann street, in the humble room where dwelt an aged, infirm 
colored woman. There a few pious young men were wont to meet 
and pray with her. I know the names of only four of them, and they 
are now all dead, for the meeting was held more than sixty years 



24O WILLIAM E. DODGE. 

ago, and I have written sketches of three of those men — the Hon. 
James Harper, mayor of this city ; Nicholas Murray, D. D , the 
Kirwan of the New York^ Observer ; the Hon. William B. Kinney, 
United States Minister to Italy; and now I am writing of the 
fourth, the Hon. William E. Dodge. 

" There are others who have wealth, and are as free to give as 
he was. But I never saw or heard of any man of his wealth who 
would do so much for others, besides giving largely. I wrote to 
him that a minister of the gospel, being very poor, was actually in 
want of clothes for himself, and I added, playfully : • He is a man 
just about of your size.' The next day he came up into my third- 
story room, lugging a bundle much larger round than his body. I 
remonstrated with him for taking that labor on himself, but he 
said he preferred to do it, rather than have his coachman leave the 
horses. The bundle was a complete wardrobe for the good 
shepherd, and covered him many a time when he preached the 
Word. 

" Mr. Dodge was a temperance man, practising total abstinence 
himself, advocating it eloquently, but without bitterness toward 
them that are without. Neither in public or private did he say a 
hard word of those who did not train in his company." 

Of the number and variety of individual cases of need assisted 
by Mr. Dodge, there has never been kept any record ; but it is 
estimated that for many years he gave away annually about 
$200,000. 

One form of donation was building churches for impecunious 
congregations in the South and West. He gave $12,000 towards 
building the Christian Home for Intemperate Men, and $1,000 a 
year for its support. He also gave a similar amount towards sus- 
taining free gospel services on Sunday, in the Cooper Union. 
Robert College, in Constantinople, was one of his beneficiaries. 

In politics Mr. Dodge was a " Henry Clay Whig " while the 
Whig party existed, when he naturally gravitated toward the Re- 
publican party. He was a delegate to the convention which nom- 



WILLIAM E. DODGE. 241 

inated Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency. During the war, he 
acted as Chairman of the New York branch of the Christian Com- 
mission, and also was an active agent in the work of the Sanitary 
Commission. He was a member of the Union Defence Com- 
mittee, organized by the Chamber of Commerce, and of the Union 
League Club, but from the latter he afterward resigned on account 
of his temperance views. He was a delegate to the Peace Con- 
vention, held in Washington in 1861, and in 1865, elected Repre- 
sentative to Congress, where he served on the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs. After the election of General Grant to the Presi- 
dency, Mr. Dodge was appointed a Commissioner on Indian 
Affairs. In 1881, when Mr. Dodge visited England, he found his 
reputation as a philanthropist had gone before him; he was invited 
to address the British and Foreign Bible Society in London, and 
became the guest of Mr. Gladstone, Lord Shaftesbury and other 
distinguished men. 

Mr. Dodge's city residence was pleasantly situated on Madison 
avenue ; in the summer he occupied a beautiful home overlooking 
the Hudson at Tarry to wn ; and here he celebrated his "golden 
wedding," in June, 1878. He attained very nearly to the age of 
seventy-eight, and was ill only a few days previous to his death, 
which occurred February 9th, 1883. His death was nearly coin- 
cident with that of Governor Marshall Jewell, of Connecticut, who 
was allied to the family by marriage ; a son of Mr. Dodge having 
married a daughter of Governor Jewell. Mr. Dodge left a widow 
and seven sons. His estate, notwithstanding the liberal hand 
with which he had been distributing for thirty years, was estimated 
at $5,000,000. Having made ample provision for his wife, sons, 
other relatives, dependents, and a number of old and faithful em- 
ployes, Mr. Dodge bequeathed the following sums to various 
institutions: 

To the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions #50,000 

To the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions 50,000 

To the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 50,000 

16 



242 WILLIAM E. DODGE. 

To the Education of Young Men for the Ministry $50,000 

To the American Tract Society 20,000 

To the City Missions and Tract Society 20,000 

To the Syrian Protestant College 20,000 

To the American Bible Society 10,000 

To the American Sunday School Union 10,000 

To the National Temperance Society 10,000 

To the Presbyterian Board of Publication 10,000 

To the Lincoln University 500 

To the Children's Aid Society 5,000 

To the Howard University 5,000 

To the Atlanta University 500 

To the Hampton Institute ; 5,000 

To the Presbyterian Board for Aged Ministers 5,000 

To the American Seamen's Friend Society 500 

To the International Commission of Young Men's Christian Association 5,000 

To the McAuley Mission 5,000 

To the Metropolitan Museum of Art 500 

To the American Museum of National History 5,000 




W. C. RALSTON. 



WILLIAM C. RALSTON. 

Mr. William C. Ralston, whose tragical death occurred in San 
Francisco some eight years ago, was, previous to his decease, the 
foremost man in the State of California; not so much on account 
of his great wealthy or his mode of obtaining it, but for the wise 
and generous use he made of it, in building up the industries of 
the place and in assisting in every direction to develop the re- 
sources of the country. 

It was truly said of him that he did more than any other single 
individual to secure a good municipal organization for the infant 
city, aiding, by his sympathy and money, weak manufactories and^ 
business enterprises, as well as public and benevolent institutions, 
which tended to give a moral and elevated tone to the society 
then gathering from all quarters of the world to the shores of the 
Pacific. Mr. Ralston was among those who pressed early through 
the Golden Gate; and, among the thousands who in 1849-50 en- 
tered the auriferous territory of California, there was no man of 
larger brain or nobler heart than William C. Ralston. 

Ralston was a native of Ohio, being born at Wellsville, in that 
State, on January 12th, 1826. His father was a carpenter and 
builder, the two trades being united, as is usual outside of the 
great centres of business, and for several years William assisted 
his father in the workshop. His course of life in California was 
for many years prosperous without example, but no one envied 
him, for he had an open hand to all who needed assistance, and for 
the quarter of a century that he lived in San Francisco or its 
vicinity he showed himself the friend of all classes of persons. 
The struggling young mechanic, the man in any position in life 

(243) 



244 



WILLIAM C. RALSTON. 



who was looking out for a helping hand, always thought first of 
William C. Ralston. After his death there were many long 
homilies in the Eastern papers particularly dilating upon the fact 
" that money, even millions, does not bring happiness." That 
money alone does not is a sufficiently trite remark, but none of 
these pointed out the other fact, that it was in his case not the pos- 
session of money, but the loss of it, which caused his despondency. 
While he had it he was happy and made others so. 

Mr. Ralston was connected with the Bank of California. The 
letters of credit which it issued were available, not only throughout 
the United States, but in Europe, India, China, Australia and in 
South America. Under the liberal views of Mr. Ralston, who was 
its president, the funds of the bank were loaned to many enter- 
prises which have aided materially in the permanent prosperity of 
the city. Perhaps not all the care was used that should have 
been in securing the bank from unexpected calls of large amounts. 
At least the sudden catastrophe which overtook the bank and Mr. 
Ralston at the same time must be attributed to the fact that, 
though the institution was possessed of ample assets to cover all 
its indebtedness, it was not able in August, 1875, to respond to a 
call of Mr. James C. Flood, who made a sudden demand for 
nearly $6,000,000. The bank closed its doors, and with a pre- 
cipitancy which seems strange, in the light of all that is known of 
Mr. Ralston's value to the city and its institutions, he was im- 
mediately asked for his resignation. This was the intolerable 
humiliation which the great-hearted millionaire found unbearable ; 
nor did it seem necessary. There was no necessity, nor any ex- 
pectation in the board of finance, for bankruptcy, and the institu- 
tion could have been reorganized without putting this affront upon 
its president. Mr. Ralston surrendered all his available personal 
property to satisfy the deficiencies of the bank. He went out to 
North Beach to bathe, was carried out by the flood-tide and 
drowned. This was on the 27th of August, 1875. A boy near 
by on the beach witnessed the event, and thus described it : After 



WILLIAM C. RALSTON. 245 

putting on his bathing-suit he sat down on the shore, and, tearing 
up some papers, threw the pieces into the sea ; then he drank 
something out of a phial, and immediately plunged into the surf. 
After swimming about two hundred yards he disappeared behind 
a vessel. But a short time elapsed before his body drifted to- 
wards the shore. Help was summoned, but life was already 
extinct. In the bathing-house was found Mr. Ralston's statement 
to the bank and a small sum of money. How the community 
looked upon Mr. Ralston, and how upon his detractors, we shall 
briefly show by extracts from public addresses made upon the 
occasion, and the action of various associations with which he had 
been connected and with charities which he had patronized. 

One of the morning papers of San Francisco had been very 
bitter and apparently unjust in its criticisms upon Mr. Ralston's 
course. The calumnies said to have been set afloat from this 
source had greatly injured, not only Mr. Ralston, but the credit of 
the bank, and undoubtedly helped to precipitate the crisis. 

Early in September a public meeting was called in these words: 
"All the friends of the late William C. Ralston are requested to 
meet at Union Hall this evening, September 8th, 1875, at eight 
o'clock." Long before the time of opening arrived the hall was 
crowded to its utmost capacity, and thousands were unable to ob- 
tain admittance. A prominent broker, Mr. G. W. Smiley, pre- 
sided, with a list of one hundred and twenty-one vice-presidents, 
composed of the leading business and professional men of the 
city. A meeting was organized outside in the vicinity of the hall, 
and another on the corner of Third and Howard streets. The 
leading orators of the place addressed the several meetings. Col- 
onel W. H. Barnes took up in order the several charges which 
had been brought against the deceased, and showed either their 
utter falsity, or grounds of justification in each case. No eulogy 
was too strong to express the feeling of the audience, and the 
same animus was displayed among the thousands of all classes, 
who hung around the improvised platforms of the outside speak- 



246 WILLIAM C. RALSTON. 

ers. A series of resolutions was adopted, expressive of the " irre- 
parable loss the city had sustained," and denouncing in the 
severest terms the course of a portion of the press, in hastening 
to telegraph abroad unfounded and injurious aspersions on Mr. 
Ralston, and consequently to the injury of the Bank of California. 
The second resolution reads as follows : Resolved, " That in review- 
ing the life of William C. Ralston, deceased, we recognize one of 
the first citizens of San Francisco ; the master spirit of her indus- 
trial enterprises ; the most bounteous giver to her charities ; the 
founder of her financial credit, and the warm supporter of every 
public and private effort to augment her prosperity and welfare. 
That to his sagacity, activity and enterprise San Francisco owes 
much of her present material prosperity, and in his death has sus- 
tained an irreparable loss. That in his business conceptions he 
was a giant, in social life an unswerving friend, and in all the 
attributes of his character he was a man worthy of love and 
trust." 

This and other appreciative resolutions were accepted by the 
audience with a unanimous "Aye," "that sounded," said one who 
was present, " like an explosion of a park of artillery." 

The pulpit was unanimous in recognizing the great qualities of 
mind and heart of the dead banker. " The aim of his life," said 
Rev. T. K. Noble, of Plymouth Church, " was not to pull down but 
to build up. What enterprise can you mention, looking to the 
betterment of our material interests, in which he did not have 
part? In the building of railroads; in the establishment of lines 
of steamships to Australia, to China, to Japan ; in the manufacture 
of silk ; in the Pacific Woolen Mills, the Bay Sugar Refinery, the 
West Coast Furniture Manufactory, in the Cornell Watch Manu- 
factory, and in those superb buildings, the \ Grand Hotel ' and the 
1 Palace Hotel/ and in many other enterprises, I have not time to 
mention ? Into each and all of these he put his money and his 
brains. A few months ago, when my old friend, General Brisbin, 
a man of large experience and broad culture, and a close observer 



WILLIAM C. RALSTON. 247 

of men, was on this coast on behalf of the Kansas sufferers, he was 
asked this question, ' General, what has most impressed you in 
this, our young commonwealth?' Without a moment's hesitation 
he replied, * William C. Ralston.' " 

In addition to the public meetings and the pulpit recognition, 
many other organized bodies met to express the sense of their loss 
and the appreciation of Mr. Ralston's services to them personally, 
and to the country at large. Among these were the Managers of 
the Tenth Industrial Exhibition; Templar Lodge, No. 17, I.O.O.F.: 
the Presbytery of San Francisco; the San Francisco Female Hos- 
pital Society; the Pacific Dispensary for Women and Children; 
"San Francisco Board of Supervisors;" the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association ; the San Francisco Stock Exchange and Exchange 
Board; the Pacific Stock Exchange; the Produce Exchange; the 
Most Worthy Grand Lodge of Kesher Shel Barsel; the Photogra- 
pher's Association. These latter were particularly indebted to 
Mr. Ralston for funds, to enable them to entertain, in a manner 
worthy of the city, a visiting body of the National Photographic 
Association. Each and all of these bodies had shared his boun- 
ties, and the still imperfect list shows the wide range and impar- 
tiality of his beneficence. 

But it was not alone in the city of San Francisco that the news 
of Mr. Ralston's death fell like a pall upon the hearts of men. On 
the 13th of September, only five days after the great public meet- 
ings in San Francisco, the "Associated Pioneers of the Territorial 
Days in California " met at the Sturtevant House in New York, in 
the great dining-room of the hotel, and General Ed. F. Beale ad- 
dressed the meeting. He said : 

" The death of William C. Ralston has been so severe a shock, 
that we have not yet recovered our composure ; for my part, I can- 
not yet realize that I shall see his kindly, genial face no more. I 
do believe that the State of California owes to his wisdom, fore- 
sight and enterprise an advance of ten years at least, in the de- 
velopment of every useful industry. It was a common saying, that 



248 WILLIAM C. RALSTON. 

the ' Bank of California/ which was Ralston, was interested in 
everything. 

" For money, as money, he had no regard whatever. His view 
was simply what good he could do with it. He was a special 
Providence to all in need of charity. He gave always more than 
money ; he gave his tender and gentle sympathy. People here, 
who only know of the enormous wealth and power he controlled, 
cannot conceive of such a man, because they have none such men 
among them. He was the most accessible and least pretentious 
man that ever lived, .... the people of the whole State loved him, 
and men who lived on the far borders of civilization, delving per- 
haps in mines of Arizona, and who could look to no one else for 
help, liked to talk to him familiarly, and of the time when they 
' would go to 'Frisco, and see Ralston about it.' No man ever 
lived, of his riches and command of wealth, whose life was so un- 
selfishly devoted to the interest and happiness of others, and the 
prosperity of the State in which he lived. His house at Belmont, 
and the princely style in which he lived, was not so much his own 
as a State and a business affair. No one had more simple tastes 
or habits, but he liked to entertain in a sumptuous manner all who 
visited the Pacific coast ; he thought it benefited California. The 
Bank of California allowed him $100,000 a year to entertain their 
guests." 

Many other speakers followed General Beale. Resolutions of 
sympathy were sent to his family, and probably none were ever 
drawn containing more genuine feeling than these: they fully en- 
dorsed those passed by the great public meetings in San Fran- 
cisco. The funeral honors paid to the deceased, on the day of in- 
terment, were quite extraordinary, considering that Mr. Ralston, 
at the time of his death, was not in any official position. 

Three infantry regiments, cavalry, a full park of artillery, ac- 
companied the remains, the National Guard acting as a guard 
of honor ; while representatives in large numbers from all the 
different manufactories who had benefited by his free expendi- 



WILLIAM C. RALSTON. 249 

ture of money, were present ; organized societies and private citi- 
zens swelled the procession until it extended full three miles in 
length, and took forty-two minutes to pass any given point. There 
had never been before, and there has never been since, any funeral 
cortege at all comparable to it in California — considered as the 
spontaneous outpouring of all classes of people from the million- 
aire to the penniless. The " unco' gude " and the free thinker ; the 
literary and the ignorant ; the capitalist and the man who worked 
for day wages, for once united in accompanying to Lone Mountain 
the friend and brother whom all seemed equally to mourn. 

The inquiry here naturally arises if such was the love and con- 
fidence reposed in this man by the whole community, why did the 
board of directors of the Bank of California treat his mistake with 
such harsh severity ? Why not give him the opportunity to cor- 
rect it, and make all good again, as he affirmed that he could and 
would do ? By " mistake '* we mean the loaning of the bank's 
money to the " woollen mills," which impaired the capital of the 
bank, and, in connection with Flood's sudden call, necessitated the 
suspension of the bank. For answer, it may be said on behalf of 
the board that perhaps they believed the bank could not be resus- 
citated while the cause of their failure remained at its head ; it may 
also have been that there were some few envious souls who cov- 
eted his position, rejoiced at his downfall, or were " tired of hearing 
Aristides called the Just." Mr. Ralston left a wife, two sons, two 
daughters, and from the wreck of his estate little available prop- 
erty was saved for their use. The beautiful house at Belmont had 
to be abandoned, and his sons sought clerkships as a temporary 
means of support. Instead of this princely mansion the widow 
was assigned the humble residence lately occupied by the agent of 
the estate. Friends assisted her to leave for a while the scene of 
her loss, and the ever reminding tokens of her former wealth. 
She went to Paris and remained over a year ; then came back and 
commenced suits against Mr. William Sharon, who had been made 
receiver of Mr. Ralston's estate, for an accounting of the same ; 



£$& 



WILLIAM C. RALSTON. 



and against a Mr. J. D. Fry for an account of certain property put 
into his hands to be held in trust for the family by Mr. Ralston 
before the latter's death. This property was in Kern county, and 
consisted largely of grazing land and stock, including improved 
breeds of sheep. The estate was kept in litigation for several 
years. Mr. Ralston's decease took place in August, 1875. A 
final hearing of the case took place in October, 1882 ; since 
which ex-Senator Sharon has compromised with Mrs. Ralston and 
her children by the payment to them of $160,000, the return to 
her of a large ranch in the northern part of the State, and the 
payment of her lawyer's fees by the transfer to him of a lot on 
California street in San Francisco, and the payment of $25,000 in 
cash. 

Considering the amount of property possessed by the late Wil- 
liam C. Ralston, it is generally thought that the executors could 
very well afford these sums, and make comfortable for life the 
widow and children of California's generous friend. 



DAVID JAYNE. i 

Among the few men who have made large fortunes in this coun- 
try in the patent medicine business, ranks Dr, David Jayne. He 
was born in Monroe county, Pennsylvania, on the 2 2d of July, 
1799, and spent the early years of his life there. Subsequently 
he lived at Salem, N. J. His father was a Baptist clergyman, and 
he, early in life, decided upon the calling of a physician as being 
but one remove from that of a clergyman. His taste for his pro- 
fession was marked, but he was not satisfied to continue his career 
in Salem, where he had several years of satisfactory practice. In 
1836 he determined to enter upon a larger field, and accordingly 
removed to Philadelphia, where he engaged in the drug business, 
in which, in consequence of want of capital, he met with many 
trials and difficulties. His integrity, however, was unquestioned, 
and, as a consequence, his credit, notwithstanding financial entan- 
glement, continued good, and his creditors exercised the utmost 
forbearance. Ultimately the tide of fortune turned, and in many 
cases he was subsequently able to extend a helping hand to those 
who had thus befriended him. 

The foundation of the immense fortune which he ultimately ac- 
quired was, unquestionably, persistent and lavish advertising. In 
the judicious use of this medium of communication with the pub- 
lic, few have equalled him. No man knew better than he how to 
attract and hold popular attention. One of the most successful 
means to that end adopted by him was the erection of the immense 
eight-story granite building on Chestnut street below Third, in 
Philadelphia. This, at the time it was built, was the largest and 
highest structure for business purposes in the United States. The 
walls throughout were of solid granite, and all the appointments 

(25O 



252 DAVID JAYNE. 

of the edifice were of the most complete character. From what- 
ever point Philadelphia is viewed "Jayne's Building " appears to 
dominate the situation. Even now, after the lapse of nearly a 
quarter of a century, few, if any, buildings in the Quaker City ex- 
ceed it in height and magnitude. 

Upon a similar scale of magnificence he built many other of the 
most substantial and beautiful structures upon Chestnut street, the 
fashionable thoroughfare of Philadelphia. Notably the " Common- 
wealth Building," at Chestnut and Sixth streets ; the three large 
marble front structures, erected on the site of the old Philadelphia 
Arcade, and the large granite building immediately adjoining it, 
known as "Jayne's Hall." 

One of the most elaborate and beautiful of his architectural un- 
dertakings was the superb marble building, at the corner of Chest- 
nut and Nineteenth streets, designed as his private residence, 
though never occupied by him, as, at the time of his death, it was 
unfinished. In his will full provision for its completion, according 
to plan, was made, and it is to-day the most beautiful and costly 
residence in Philadelphia, and even now there are but few in 
America which surpass it. 

Here it had been his design to make a permanent home for 
himself and family. Although he was not permitted to enjoy that 
which he had so carefully planned, he left it in charge with his ex- 
ecutors that upon the completion of the edifice, his wife and chil- 
dren should be permitted to occupy it as a home, free of all charge 
of any kind, so long as they lived or chose to accept its hospitali- 
ties. He made his wife head of the household so long as she 
lived or remained unmarried, with careful provision as to the suc- 
cession in case the responsibility should devolve upon his daugh- 
ters or his sons. His executors were directed tha,t neither of the 
latter should be permitted to take the place of head of the family 
until he had become of age, nor then unless his habits and moral 
character were good. He directed that no intoxicating liquor of 
any kind should be allowed in the house, except for medicinal or 



DAVID JAYNE. 253 

culinary purposes. The surviving members of his family he ex- 
horted to mutual forbearance and mutual love, in order that a 
happy and harmonious home might be maintained ; and his execu- 
tors are instructed, that should this, his purpose and desire, be 
frustrated through domestic dissension, that the house shall be 
closed, and the building and all its contents be disposed of for the 
benefit of the estate. 

Mr. Jayne died of typhoid-pneumonia, March 5th, 1866. He 
left a wife, two sons and four daughters. His bequests to the 
Spruce Street Baptist Church, to which he belonged, were liberal, 
as they were to many charitable institutions. Benevolence was a 
marked trait in his character. Quiet and unostentatious in man- 
ner he, notwithstanding his immense wealth, ever avoided per- 
sonal ostentation or display. In his death Philadelphia lost one 
of the most active and public-spirited of her citizens. 



JESSE SELIGMAN. 

It is but recently that the name of Jesse Seligman rang through 
the daily press, not only throughout the United States, but the 
civilized world, not for what he had done, for good or ill, or left 
undone ; but that in his person was represented the insulted 
dignity of a whole race ; a race civilized, organized as a nation, 
producing its poets, prophets and warriors two thousand years 
before the ancestors of the insulted Boniface had emerged from 
barbarism. It was the Seligman family whom Judge Hilton, 
proprietor of a Saratoga hotel, the Grand Union, excluded 
from his house of public entertainment because he was of He- 
brew race. The excitement produced in the city of New York, 
Mr. Seligman's home, was intense, and extended thence ovei 
the whole country. The surprise at this display of race prejudice 
was the greater since Mr. Seligman was a man of great wealth, a 
member of the famous " syndicate " for disposing of the United 
States bonds, a particular friend of ex-President Grant, a welcome 
guest in the best society everywhere, Mr. Seligman, as the name 
indicates, is of German origin (the word means in the German, 
" blessed or happy man "), the family, so far as we have traced them, 
originating in the Bavarian village of Baiesdorf. Like many of 
their race, they were, some generations back, engaged in peddling 
anything they could sell on which a profit could be made, and it 
may not be out of place just here to remind our readers, that the 
Hebrew race have been compelled to adapt themselves almost 
wholly to such occupations as could be readily transferred from 
one country to another, for two reasons: one was, their constant 
liability to outbreaks of persecution ; and the other, that nearly 
(254) 



JESSE SELIGMAN. 255 

every government in Europe has, at some period of its history, 
forbidden them to acquire real estate by purchase. 

The first of this Seligman family to come to the United States 
was Joseph, the eldest of the eight brothers Seligman, who finally 
settled in New York : he came in 1838. His parents were people 
of some means, and gave their sons a fair education. Joseph was 
a graduate of the University of Erlangen in Franconia, and was a 
man of scholarly tastes. He brought letters of introduction, and 
being a man of some originality of thought, strove to free himself 
from the traditions of his race ; and instead of entering immedi- 
ately into trade, sought through his friend, Judge Asa Packer, of 
Philadelphia, a position in the bank presided over by the latter. 
He was appointed cashier, and remained in this situation several 
years. He saved money, and when able sent over to the old home 
for the three eldest of his brothers. Of these Jesse was one ; he 
had the instincts of his race strong within him. He bought a 
small stock of goods and set out on a peddling expedition in and 
around New York. The other brothers separated, one going to 
the south and the other west. Jesse's energy was inexhaustible; 
and so well did he ply his trade, that at the end of three years he 
was the happy possessor of $1,000 net profit. This was about 

1845- 

The elder brother, Joseph, had also discovered that there was 
not much prospect of making a fortune as cashier in a bank ; 
there was no opportunity of promotion. He therefore resigned 
and fell back upon trade. A good opportunity offering at Greens- 
burg, Alabama, he removed to that place and opened a clothing 
store. Everything prospered with him ; but thinking he could do 
still better in New York, he returned thither and shortly after sent 
for his remaining four brothers to join him in this country. He 
first opened a clothing store in Church street, where some of his 
brothers were employed ; but Jesse did so well with his peddling 
that he was loth to leave it. However, in the excitement of the 
"California fever," in 1848-9, he took the contagion, and in the 



256 JESSE SELIGMAN. 

latter year went to San Francisco — but not to dig in the mines; 
his mine was in a store which he rented, at that time the only brick 
building in the place. This showed a wise provision on the part 
of a young man of twenty- three, and his caution met with its re- 
ward. When the wooden city of the first settlers was swept away 
by fire, Jesse's store, with its large stock of goods, withstood the 
flames and was saved. The price of his stock went up amazingly ; 
very little clothing of any kind could be procured anywhere in the 
settlement except at Jesse Seligman's store ; everything then sold 
at fabulous prices in San Francisco, and at the end of six or seven 
years the young Hebrew returned to New York and to his brother 
Joseph with a nice little fortune ready to invest in the same or 
some other business in the metropolis. In 1857 tne three brothers, 
Joseph, Jesse, and James, formed a partnership for the importation 
of cloths and the wholesale clothing business ; and in process of 
time another brother joined his fortunes with theirs. This firm 
went on, quietly progressing and enlarging their operations, until 
at the outbreak of the civil war a new source of profit was opened 
to them. This firm were experts in everything relating to woollen 
goods ; they had capital at command, and had no difficulty in pro- 
curing contracts to furnish clothing for the army. The contract 
proved enormously profitable, so much so that on the conclusion 
of peace they retired from trade, and opened a banking house at 
No. 21 Broad street, near Wall. 

It says much for the fraternal feeling existing between these 
brothers, that none were excluded from the good fortune attained 
by the contracting firm. The whole eight brothers were made 
partners in the banking business : they had all done more or less 
well for themselves, but not all had the opportunities offered by 
government contracts. The names of the Seligman brothers thus 
united in the banking business were Joseph, Jesse, William, Abra- 
ham, Leopold, Isaac, James, and Henry ; and this octuple band 
continued unbroken until 1881, when Joseph, the eldest and leader, 
to whom they were all accustomed to look up, died. 



JESSE SELIGMAN. 257 

Joseph Seligman was no ordinary person. To those who met 
him in business he might have seemed wholly absorbed in accumu- 
lating his gains. Some who knew him in social life were not pleased 
with his manners ; but he was undoubtedly a man of brains, and one 
who had found time, aside from all his money-getting, for reading 
and reflection. He retained many of the instinctive traits of his 
lineage, and he had thoroughly emancipated himself from its 
burdensome superstitions. When we say that he was the friend 
and principal financial support of Prof. Felix Adler, it is sufficient 
proof that he had broken the bonds of old tradition, and was try- 
ing to put something better in its place, to substitute a good life 
for vain ceremonies — " deeds instead of creeds." The advanced 
thinkers, who are wont to meet to hear the eloquent and persua- 
sive Hebrew preacher in Chickering Hall, on the Christian Sab- 
bath, lost one of their most devoted and generous friends, when 
Joseph Seligman died. 

Jesse Seligman now became the head of the banking house, and 
under him its affiliations have been widely extended. When Gen- 
eral Grant was President he became the latter's banker, and a 
personal friendship sprang up between them ; and this connection 
proved of great benefit to the Hebrew bankers, particularly the 
opportunity which was offered for " placing " the government loans. 
The house had its agencies in London, Paris, Frankfort, Amster- 
dam, as well as in San Francisco, New Orleans, Cuba, Brazil, etc. 
One of the important undertakings of the firm is connected with 
the construction of the Panama Canal. 

Jesse Seligman stands at the head of the syndicate for placing 
the " Lessep shares " in the United States. He is also interested 
in those southern railroads, whose ultimate terminus is Mexican 
territory, and of the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad, and 
many other projects of a like nature. We have never heard of 
any serious losses suffered by Jesse Seligman. Their business is 
kept so well in hand that few outsiders can even venture to esti- 
mate the assets of the firm. They are believed to be very 
17 



258 JESSE SELIGMAN. 

wealthy ; and as Mr. Jesse Seligman is still on the sunny side of 
sixty, he may have many years yet in which to increase his for- 
tune. He is in good health, has a bright happy family of three 
sons and three daughters, and lives in a handsome house on Fifth 
Avenue. He ranks among the progressive Jews who worship in 
the temple Emanuel : though not so radical in his ideas as was 
his brother Joseph. All the brothers have large families, so that 
the Seligmans almost form a little community among themselves. 
Jesse is very liberal in the support of the Hebrew charitable asso- 
ciations, and is President of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum. He is 
also a member of the Union Club of New York. Among the 
younger branches of the family are already several who show a 
decided talent for financiering, so that the banking house of Selig- 
man is likely to become a permanent feature of the monetary cir- 
cles in New York. Nor would it be surprising if out of their 
numerous offspring should arise successors who may become the 
Rothschilds of the world. 




CHAS STORRS. 



CHARLES STORRS. 

It is sometimes said that the old New England race is dying 
out, and that the heroic spirit which made the Pilgrim Fathers 
famous has declined steadily in the successive generations of their 
descendants. Many considerations offset and invalidate this con- 
clusion. It would be easy to show, by what New Englanders have 
done in recent times and are doing to-day in the multifarious 
activities of nineteenth century life, that the old conquering and 
patient spirit is as quick and strong as ever when the occasion 
arises to call it into action. In every quarter of the globe and in 
every country, the New Englander is found. As merchant and 
banker, as explorer and navigator, as inventor and discoverer, as 
poet and historian, as philosopher and social scientist, the Yankee 
is to the front. Nations and princes vie with each other in doing 
him honor as a benefactor of his race. The Queen of England 
offers him titles and ribbons in the person of George Peabody, 
while every rank and calling in the British Empire unite to place 
a bust of the Yankee poet, Longfellow, in Westminster Abbey. 
In the British colonies Yankee enterprise and invention have given 
an impetus to commerce and agriculture. The experience of the 
Yankee in gaining independence, and his success in the experiment 
of local self-government, have set an example and given direction 
to other races, colonies and individual enterprises. Hence the 
cry of alarm in England that the masses are becoming American- 
ized and breaking loose from traditional leading-strings. What 
has worked this change for the better but the ubiquitous Yankee, 
who greets one in the cafe of Paris, the " Rotten Row " of London 
fashion, breakfasts at the North Pole and dines on the Equator. 
Charles Storrs, the retired New York merchant, and one of the 

(259) 



26o CHARLES STORRS. 

foremost citizens of Brooklyn, is a conspicuous instance of this 
diffusion of New England " grit." A sketch of his life and charac- 
ter is the more interesting because he is really a type of the nobility 
of New England, whose decorations and estates have been won 
by that hard toil which Hesiod, the oldest of the poets, says is the 
inexorable and undeviating condition of the bestowal of Heaven's 
best gifts on man. Labor, in his belief, is the only passport to the 
port of rest and comfort. Plato would allow no one who was not 
a geometrician to enter his academy, and Hesiod represents the 
immortal gods as opening the gates of happiness only to those 
who have climbed the hill, overcome difficulties, subdued laziness, 
been patient under reverses, chosen present hardship with a sin- 
gle eye to duty, and because in the line of duty they looked onward 
to the goal of self-approval, a conscience able to look itself squarely 
in the face, and a field of quiet helpfulness to their fellow-men. If, 
as the Wise King said, " He that ruleth his own spirit is greater 
than he who taketh a city," much more is he who from the hard 
beginnings of toil and privation has steadily toiled on until plenty 
and social power for good have crowned his labors. 

The Storrs pedigree is an ancient one. Although "good wine 
needs no bush," it is pleasant to trace one's lineage; and Mr. 
Storrs has himself taken much pains in counting the leaves and 
branches of his family tree. He has compiled and arranged a 
Genealogical Record of the Storrs Family in the United States, 
which has been lithographed and published by D. T. Ames, of 205 
Broadway, New York. " Stor " is an old Norse word, meaning 
great, strong, in the sense of power, authority ; and Storrs, which 
is one English form, may fairly be interpreted as " strong man." 
The Herald's College of London would make this family descend- 
ants of Philip du Storrs, a companion of William the Conqueror, 
when he entered England in 1066. A promontory on Lake Win- 
dermere, and a fine mansion in the vicinity, still bear the name 
of Storrs in honor of an ancient family once settled there, but 
long extinct in the male line. Among present members of the 



CHARLES STORRS. 26 1 

family in England are many clergymen of the Established Church, 
and a Quaker branch of high respectability, allied with the Frys, 
the Stephensons, and other prominent Friends. In the North 
Cross of Westminster Abbey is buried Admiral John Stor (the 
Yorkshire spelling), who died in 1783. 

All the American branches trace their pedigree to Samuel 
Storrs, who emigrated to America in 1 663, from Sutton cum Lounde, 
Nottinghamshire, England. He came to Barnstable, Massachu- 
setts, where he was twice married, and then removed to Mansfield, 
Connecticut, where he died on the 30th of April, 1 719. 

Among his well-known descendants are the late Hon. Henry R. 
Storrs, the eminent orator and member of Congress from the 
State of New York; his brother, the late William L. Storrs, Chief- 
Justice of Connecticut; and Rev. R. S. Storrs, D. D., of Brooklyn, 
New York. 

The subject of this sketch is sixth in descent from this Samuel 
Storrs, being the son of Royal, who was the son of Royal, who was 
the son of Joseph, who was the son of Samuel, who was the eldest 
son of Samuel from Nottinghamshire. They were all farmers 
and men of strong character and fine personal appearance. His 
father, Royal Storrs, Jr., married Eunice Freeman, daughter of 
Frederick Freeman, Esq., of Mansfield, Conn., and granddaughter 
of Deacon Edmund Freeman, a graduate of Harvard in the class 
of 1733, and the first permanent resident of that name in the town 
of Mansfield. Royal Storrs was a man of large brain, sound judg- 
ment, strict integrity, liberal views, and unusual conscientiousness; 
and his wife possessed fine social qualities, and was attractive both 
in person and mind. Their son naturally in many traits resem- 
bles them. 

For most country families in New England, sixty years ago, 
great economy was necessary to " make ends meet." Towns and 
neighborhoods lived within themselves as to their daily needs. 
There were no books and papers, as now, to teach people physi- 
ology, and the preservation of health by proper attention to food 



2^2 CHARLES STORRS. 

and clothing. To be honest and upright, to make your way, and 
to pay strict regard to the duties of religion, comprised the sum- 
total of average parental instruction. Pork and beef were "salted 
down " in the fall, and were the principal meats. Once a year the 
tailoress and the shoemaker went from house to house fashioning 
clothes and shoes for the inmates, and lucky were they who got 
their new things before Thanksgiving, the great and almost only 
holiday. Underclothing was little worn, and overcoats were by no 
means universal. 

Charles Storrs was born in this town of Mansfield, January 
24th, 1822. He may not have fared as badly as many other New 
England boys who have risen to high positions ; but he has often 
been heard to regret the privations of his youth. Until twelve 
years of age he was not strong. 

The austerity of manners which then prevailed in New England, 
even among those nearest of kin, prevented discussion or instruc- 
tion on any but formal subjects. Life must have been wanting in 
many of the influences that would have been most grateful to 
his generous, frank disposition, and his sensitive temperament. 
Even such formality, coldness and repression, however, did not 
" freeze the genial current of his soul." 

The district school for about three months in winter gave him 
his early education, and he must have studied earnestly to be able 
in his eighteenth year to become as he did a school-teacher himself. 

Six months before he attained his majority, Mr. Storrs hired a 
substitute to take his place on his father's farm, and began a career 
for himself, without a dollar of capital, but with those sterling 
qualities that have raised him to independence and honor. He 
began selling American-made sewing silk to the merchants of New 
England, Mansfield being the first, and at that time one of the chief 
places of its manufacture. He followed this business successfully 
for three years. 

When twenty-two and a half years of age he married, on the 4th 
of July, 1844, Maryett M. Cook, of Coventry, Connecticut, and in 



CHARLES STORRS. 263 

the following year he removed to Hartford, where his only child 
Sarah was born on the 12th of December, 1845. Here he engaged 
his services to a manufacturing and commission firm as agent 
for the sale of their goods. This occupation brought him con- 
stantly to New York, and in May, 1850, he chose Brooklyn as his 
permanent residence. In July, 1853, he was taken into copart- 
nership with his employers, who now carried on a commission 
business in New York as well as a manufactory in Connecticut. 
When the financial panic of 1854 occurred, so many of the parties 
who had dealings with them on credit failed that in September they 
also stopped payment. Mr. Storrs now assumed the liabilities 
of his late partners, which were over $300,000, and which were 
honorably paid in full. 

On the 1st of December, 1854, he commenced business as a 
commission merchant on his own account, associating with him in 
the new firm of Storrs Brothers, his two brothers, Augustus and 
Royal O. Storrs. The latter, owing to other business, never took 
an active share in the management, and in the course of a year or 
two withdrew. For twenty-five years, until 1879, Mr. Charles 
Storrs remained head of the firm, and by his business capacity, 
his carefulness in avoiding doubtful liabilities, and his high per- 
sonal reputation for integrity and financial prudence, amassed a 
competency, upon which he retired into private citizenship and 
the gratification of those intellectual and artistic tastes and that 
beneficence which are his characteristics. He might have gone on 
to amass a great fortune had he so desired, but he has always 
cared more for the use he could make of money than for money 
itself; and his unremitting attention to business for so many years 
had told very perceptibly upon his health. While in business he 
lends an example to business men of limiting his transactions 
to their legitimate sphere, never jeopardizing a moderate certainty 
for a splendid possibility, and so restraining his ambition as to 
know how to stop when he had done enough. 

It is now time to turn to his delightful home, his generous 



264 CHARLES STORRS. 

hospitality, his unselfish care for others, his public spirit, his senti- 
ments and principles, and his literary and artistic tastes. 

In the spring of 1866 Mr. Storrs decided to spend a holiday in 
foreign travel, and here his social and generous spirit showed itself, 
by inviting others — a clergyman, the Rev. R. C. Hand, and his wife, 
a physician, Dr. George K. Smith, and his much valued friend and 
connection by marriage, Miss Edna Dean Proctor, the well-known 
author of many beautiful poems and works of travel — to join 
himself and Mrs. Storrs and their daughter in their foreign explora- 
tions. They sailed from Boston in May, visiting every country of 
Europe except Portugal, and afterwards Egypt, Palestine, Syria, 
and other places in the Levant. The clergyman and physician left 
them in the autumn of that year to return to Brooklyn, but the 
Storrs family and Miss Proctor did not return till November, 1867. 

The long holiday, amid new scenes and grand historical associa- 
tions, was a continued delight and intellectual treat to Mr. Storrs, 
whose memory is freighted with reminiscences and information 
connected with it. Miss Proctor has given part of it an enduring 
and beautiful form in her fascinating and instructive book, "A 
Russian Journey." 

Mr. Storrs, like most men of observant minds and intellectual 
curiosity, is very fond of travel. Upon the marriage of his daughter, 
in May, 1869, to Mr. David Choate Proctor,* of Peoria, Illinois, a 
rare man, beloved by all, he visited California and Colorado with 
his wife and the bridal party; and in 1871, upon the invitation of 
Horace Greeley, he accompanied him to Texas. In all these sea- 
sons of travel, foreign and domestic, nothing was omitted from his 
sight-seeing which possessed historic or natural grandeur. 

Like many other travelled Americans Mr. Storrs has learned 
by experience that, after all, " there's no place like home." He 
has furnished his own home with every accessory to material com- 
fort and intellectual satisfaction. His collection of pictures is a 
fine one. His library has attained a literary celebrity from the many 

*Died, December 17, 1880. 



CHARLES STORRS. 265 

tributes which distinguished scholars and authors have paid it, 
and from the fact that it was a favorite resort of his very dear 
friend, Horace Greeley, who delighted to enshrine himself amid 
its treasures when he wished to be alone. 

Mr. Storrs, considering his engrossing and active business life, 
has been a wide reader, and he takes the keenest interest in the 
great subjects and questions of the day, whether social, political, 
religious, historical or scientific. 

In connection with Horace Greeley, it should have been men- 
tioned that Mr. Storrs was one of his executors, and aided in 
arranging his affairs, which were complicated, with a personal care 
dictated solely by the respect and friendship he had borne him. 
As the Tribune remarked at the time : " In spite of the embarrass- 
ments which attended his undertaking of this task, he performed 
the difficult work with skill, tact and success, and entirely without 
compensation." 

While Mr. Storrs has taken pains to beautify and enrich his 
home, he has not forgotten, amid books, pictures and articles 
of vertu, to provide that furniture which Cicero declared to be the 
noblest in life,—- friendship. He might apply to himself the ex- 
perience of another who has written of the 

" Blessings of friends that to my door, 
Unasked, unsought, have come." 

The frankness and sociability of his character, his perfect candor 
and straightforwardness, have attracted others to him whose regard 
he has cherished, but did not seek. Among strangers in a room, 
one who does not know him picks him out at once by his looks 
and manners as what Dr. Johnson would have called "a clubable 
man." Sitting beside him at a New England dinner, or any similar 
occasion, a stranger would feel, after a quarter of an hour's con- 
versation, as if he had known him all his life. The secret of this 
attraction is homely humanity in opposition to formality and self- 
environment. A conceited man repels one not so much from any 



266 CHARLES STORRS. 

dislike one feels for him, but because he has no point d'appui, 
no part which is not encased in egotism, so that one tries in vain 
to get at him. The genial, spontaneous, unselfish nature, on the 
contrary, reaches out the hand for others to shake, and an instinct 
of sympathy brings it friends. 

Such a nature is that of Charles Storrs. He delights in the 
feeling which the Latin dramatist expressed when he said: "I am a 
man, and nothing that touches humanity is indifferent to me." 
Hence, around his social board are gathered genial spirits like him- 
self — men and women, who have worked hard, and of whom the 
world, perhaps, knows little, but whose natures have been refined 
by suffering as "gold purified in the fire." Few homes in the 
United States have been illumined with warmer friendships or 
better company than his house in Brooklyn, 23 Monroe Place. 
Literature, art and science have been discussed within it by the 
highest minds, and better still, great hearts have communed with 
each other how to relieve distress, feed the hungry, and rekindle 
the hopes of a renovated life in those that have been ready to 
perish in the dark and cold of tribulation. In the spirit of the Ideal 
Brother, the Christ Man, whose heart embraced the world, these 
little kindnesses and unpretending courtesies have been shown. 
They will be remembered when the giver shall himself have need 
of comfort, and shall feel beneath him in Death's misty valley 
the Brother's hand, "the Everlasting Arms." According to his 
opportunities and the bigness of his heart, Charles Storrs has 
sought to do good to all men and to make his circle of fellow- 
creatures happier and better. His is one of those faces whose 
kindly light, shining in dark soft eyes, gives assurance in manhood 
of what it must have been in youth. Great energy and love of fun 
are both clearly written in his countenance at sixty years of age. 
Much enjoyment of life, perhaps not so exuberant as formerly, but 
still warming the whole nature at the social fireside, is also legible. 
It is a face also capable of reflecting sadness and disappointment, 
but never misanthropy or malice. There is no undertow in the 



CHARLES STORRS. 267 

tide of his sincerity. He may not be able to guide us to the port 
of safety we are seeking, but we feel safe in trusting our raft of 
difficulty to the sea of his confidence and sympathy. His is a 
nature that attracts others, invites their trust and never belies the 
impression of downright honesty and kindness which it first creates. 
Active in his ways, full of interest in the people and events around 
him, the dark complexion, the hair and whiskers tinged with gray, 
the kindly humor which is the most habitual expression on the 
face, and above all the humane trustfulness and good-fellowship 
of the eyes, enable us to create from imagination a complete pic- 
ture of what he must have been as a boy, careless of appearance, 
unconscious alike of his own defects and merits in style, or rather 
unconscious of the existence of style or manner in externals, always 
eager for fresh adventure, ready to do a good turn for "any other 
fellow," going straight to the heart and kernel of things, resolute 
to go through with anything he once undertook, and knowing no 
such word as fail. 

In his political and religious opinions, Mr. Storrs is both con- 
servative and progressive. He not only believes that, "somehow, 
good will be the final end of ill," but does not believe in sweeping 
old ideas and institutions away because they are not perfect. He 
is a firm friend of the ever-spreading movement for the civil, 
legal and intellectual amelioration of the lot of woman throughout 
the world. For the same work as man, he would have her paid 
the same, and he believes her capable of the same work in a 
vast number of instances. 

In religious opinions, Mr. Storrs is wisely liberal, and so convinced 
that mere assent to dogmas, which reason rejects and which are 
repugnant to the best feelings of the heart, is valueless, if not 
injurious, to individual and collective manhood, that he has for 
years assisted men and movements with whom or which he was not 
in every point agreed, whenever he has seen them persecuted by 
bigotry and slandered by falsehood. There are struggling churches 
?nd enterprises of religious and philosophical thought in America 



2 68 CHARLES STORRS. 

and England which have been for years assisted by his unsolicited 
generosity. 

At a meeting held at the Cooper Institute in the autumn of 
1873, by the religious rationalists, of whom the Rev. Octavius B. 
Frothingham was then the leading spirit, Mr. Storrs was invited 
to preside, and accepted the invitation on the Broad Church prin- 
ciple, which he thus stated : " It is, perhaps, but right that I should 
state that I belong to an orthodox church, and have no intention 
of leaving it. Early associations and circumstances may have 
thrown us into different churches ; being there, let us not be restive 
or too hasty to change. As we are impressed and permitted 
to see the light, we may be enabled to enlighten others. Churches 
have changed or modified their creeds and views in times past, 
and doubtless will again. I see no valid reason why I should not 
be open to conviction, and hear all truth that removes ignorance 
and superstition, stimulates charity and good works, and tends to 
a better life, from whatever source it may come." His great dogma 
is that God is good and just and kind, and would have His crea- 
tures so. As for creeds and churches he holds with Tennyson : 

" Our little systems have their day ; 

They have their day and cease to be ; 

They are but broken lights of Thee, 

And Thou, O Lord, art more than they." 

If he has a creed it is this : A pure life and good works. 

At the same time no man takes a greater interest in the good 
work that is done by churches than he does. The Congregational 
Church in his native town has been largely provided for by him. 
He has also given the town of his birth a large cemetery, and has 
added a fund under trustees for keeping it constantly in good 
order. He has erected in this cemetery two granite monuments, 
for his father's family and his own ; as well as several others else- 
where in the town to the memory of his early ancestors, especially 
one to Samuel Storrs, the before-mentioned founder of the Amer- 
ican branch of the family. 



CHARLES STORRS. 269 

The private benevolences of Mr. Storrs have not blunted the 
keen edge of his public spirit. Coney Island has been largely- 
indebted to his money and foresight for becoming, par excellence, 
the City of the Sea in summer for the residents of Brooklyn and 
New York. 

In October, 1877, the New York World stated that the Khedive 
of Egypt would give an obelisk to this country, if properly applied 
for. Mr. Storrs immediately wrote to the New York Tribune 
asking it to second the World's efforts to obtain the obelisk, and 
offering to bear one-fiftieth part of the expense of its removal and 
proper erection in New York. The Tribune commended his prop- 
osition, as did other New York papers. This, I believe, was the 
first public offer made for obtaining the obelisk which now adorns 
Central Park. 

Mr. Storrs, in conjunction with his brother, Augustus Storrs, 
some years ago presented to the State of Connecticut the land 
and buildings and an endowment fund to establish and maintain 
the Storrs Agricultural School at Mansfield, which is to-day a 
monument to their generosity. Having experienced the intellect- 
ual privations that are too commonly incident to farm-life, the 
younger brother, Charles, determined that when he was ready to 
help his fellow-men he would make it his duty to establish an Agri- 
cultural School for those who should desire and purpose to fit 
themselves for agricultural pursuits. And one of the provisions of 
the Storrs School is, that in addition to the teaching and training 
pupils to the practice and business of farming they shall also be 
taught the elements of botany, chemistry, geology and other 
sciences as applied to agriculture, thus ennobling and elevating the 
latter calling, and lifting up those who are to pursue it. The school 
was designed to help worthy lads, not only to be farmers in the 
best sense of the word, but to be instructed to that point where 
they could enjoy the branches of knowledge allied to agriculture, 
and be well-informed men and useful citizens. 

With the energy of a typical New Englander, Mr. Storrs takes 



27O CHARLES STORRS. 

an eager interest in the diffusion and practical improvement of 
education, and would have every farmer skilled in all matters 
connected with agriculture and stock. Botany, chemistry, geology 
and kindred sciences he regards as the beautifiers and luxuries of 
life as well as its material aids. 

He disbelieves in all philosophy which antagonizes the intel- 
lectual, moral and physical elements in man. He regards human- 
ity as a whole, whose director should be the reason, whose inspira- 
tion should be duty, whose worship should be God, whose aspiration 
should be perfection in all its parts. And the social law of this 
humanity he holds to be that of kindness and mutual help. 

Those who have been much with him, and have known him 
in the unrestrained sociability of his home, must have been struck 
with his youthful elasticity of mind and ways, his boyish exuber- 
ance of enjoyment and eager interest in everything, quite remark- 
able in a man of threescore years. When one looks into his 
merry eye, the secret is out. He has that peculiar gift of perpetual 
boyhood which, if it does not ward off sorrows, certainly enhances 
pleasures. Charles Storrs can never be old in heart, for charity 
and good-will to all the world renew his youth continually. As 
Wordsworth prophesied of Hartley Coleridge, it is his to 



* Preserve, by individual right, 
A young lamb's heart among the full-grown flocks. 



HARPER BROTHERS. 

It is hardly possible, and would not be just in a family like the 
Harpers to single one member out for special notice to the ex- 
clusion of the others ; we shall therefore trace the origin of the 
firm from its first establishment down to the present time. The 
name itself is suggestive of the profession of their ancestors. 
The first persons called Harper in England were descendants of 
one of those famous bards who in mediaeval times travelled from 
court to court, singing of the warlike deeds of gallant knights, of 
the beauty of fair ladies, and the glories of the royal kinsmen won 
in tournament or war: these bards always accompanied their songs 
with the music of the harp, and hence obtained the title of 
" Harpers," which in course of time, when the profession became 
obsolete, was metamorphosed into a family or surname, and be- 
came Harper. The coincidence is certainly striking that the de- 
scendants of the ancient " harpers " should be identified with a 
business essentially the same as that of the ancient bards. Be- 
fore the age of printing these bards or " harpers " were the per- 
sons who preserved in their memories, and recited in the courts of 
kings, and in the princely halls of the wealthy, all that was then 
extant of history, genealogy, of poetry, of romance, and we may 
add such social gossip as now appears under the heading of " so- 
ciety notes," or "fashion items: " they were the living books and 
magazines of the day; they were the newspapers and reporters 
of the era ; they were the " regular correspondents " between one 
section of the country and another. In fact they were the only 
substitutes for the printed page then extant for conveying infor- 
mation of passing events, and preserving the chronicles of the 
past. Is not the similitude apparent ? What else are the Harper 

(271) 



2 72 HARPER BROTHERS. 

Brothers doing to-day — only with a thousand-fold better means 
than mere verbal repetition ! 

The family from which the Harper Brothers of New York are 
descended came to this country from England about 1740; they 
were Dissenters, and among the active founders of Methodism in 
this country. Mr. Joseph Harper, who was born in 1766, and 
lived in Newtown, on Long Island, was the father of the four 
famous brothers — James, John, Joseph Wesley and Fletcher. 
Joseph, Sr., married a Miss Elizabeth Kollyer, of Newtown, and 
at this place was born the eldest of the publishing firm, James 
Harper, on the 13th of April, 1795. For the first fifteen years of 
his life James continued to live on the farm, assisting his father, 
when needed, and getting such instruction as he could from the 
district school. This was, of course, very limited, but was fortu- 
nately supplemented at home by the instilment of correct principles 
of religion and morality, and that kind of practical wisdom which 
experience of life gives. Books were few in most households on 
Long Island eighty years ago, but the scarcer they were the more 
carefully were such as they had read and pondered. What people 
did learn from books then they learned thoroughly ; there was no 
skimming over this and that, throwing down a book for a review 
and a magazine for a paper, all within a few minutes, and retaining 
little of either in the memory. An intellectual surfeit is some- 
times more damaging to the youth than to be put upon the " short 
allowance" of rustic homes of a century ago. 

Young James Harper appears to have had no hesitancy in 
selecting his future calling; he had made up his mind to be a 
printer, which shows that there must have been some inner crav- 
ing for " more light," since he could scarcely have known anything 
of the details or process of the trade; but what he did realize 
was, that this business would at least bring him in contact with 
books and other printed matter. James' father approved of his 
choice, and the lad was dismissed from his home with prayers for 
his welfare and good advice from his mother, who charged him to 



HARPER BROTHERS. 273 

think often of his home, to observe his religious duties, and not to 
forget that he had good blood in him. 

The printing-office in which James Harper entered as an ap- 
prentice was located very near the present site of the firm's great 
establishment. The youngest apprentice boy in a printing-office 
then had to do all the dirty chores, as well as the bidding of the 
older hands in the office — he was made a kind of general fag, and, 
among other duties, had to clean the rollers when the composition 
called printers' ink had clogged upon them. It was scarcely possi- 
ble in those days of hand-presses for a boy to keep clean ; the 
printers' ink, especially when cleaning rollers, would get on his hands, 
arms and apron, and from thence it usually reached his face, and 
thus the printer's boy, with his blackened, bedaubed countenance, 
early earned the name of " printer's devil." James Harper was 
the "devil " in the office where he worked ; but he shirked nothing, 
knowing that this was a necessary preliminary to advancement, 
and that he would not remain the " devil" forever. Worse than 
the hard work and the dirt was the annoyance he experienced 
from the idle street boys, who at once perceived that he was not 
city-bred or arrayed in clothes of city make. As he did not at 
first resent their jeers and jokes, not wishing to get in a quarrel, 
they thought they could proceed with impunity to hustle and push 
him from the sidewalk, and at last one of them struck him as he 
was crossing Franklin Square. James suddenly concluded that 
patience had ceased to be a virtue ; he was carrying a bucket of 
water, and another stepped up and mockingly asked him for " his 
card." Forbearance was at an end ; he was an athletic young 
fellow and conscious of his strength. This time, instead of meekly 
going on his way, he promptly set his bucket down, seized the 
astonished coward by the shoulders, and, hardly before the latter 
knew what happened, he found himself kicked completely across 
the square. " There's my card," said James Harper ; " take good 
care of it, and, when I am out of my time and set up for myself, 
come to me for work, and bring that card, and I'll give you employ- 
18 



274 HARPER BROTHERS. 

merit." That lesson sufficed for the crowd ; they saw what the 
"rustic" was capable of, and thereafter kept at a respectful dis- 
tance. James Harper used to add, when telling this story, that his 
youthful tormentor really did come to him for work forty-one years 
after that memorable exchange of cards. As a young man James 
was very strong, and could easily have annihilated these street 
gamins before, but he was eminently peaceful in his disposition, 
and, " though he had a giant's strength, did not care to use it as a 
giant " in the public streets ; but where he did apply and not 
spare it was in the press-room. Strength counted for something 
in the days of the old Ramage press, and young Harper soon ob- 
tained the reputation of being the best pressman in the city, and 
if a disagreeable person was set to work with him, instead of 
making any complaint or causing any contention, he simply put 
out his whole force and " outworked " him, so that he would be re- 
moved and his place supplied with some one supposed to be able 
to "work even" with James Harper; then the latter would 
shrewdly tone down his muscles to correspond with the strength 
of the new hand, if he wished him to remain. In the course of a 
year or two James' brother John also came to the city to learn the 
printer's trade, but not to the same office. However, the lads 
were able to see each other frequently, on Sundays and evenings, 
but the latter not so often, because they were both in the habit of 
working " extra hours " in the evening, saving the money thus 
earned, for they were both thriftily inclined ; and, at a period when 
the custom of daily drinking was almost universal, these young 
men resisted the temptation and kept their small savings for 
better uses. James joined the old Methodist church in John 
street, becoming an active member, leading prayer-meetings and 
living consistently with his profession. 

When the long apprenticeship was ended, James' employer pro- 
posed to retain him as a journeyman, but Mr. Harper informed 
him that he and his brother intended to set up an office for them- 
selves, and the only favor he asked of his late master was a written 



HARPER BROTHERS. 275 

certificate that he was an able printer, and competent to undertake 
the printing of a book ; this was willingly given, and the " rustic 
apprentice " rose at one step from complete subordination to that 
of master and proprietor. The young men had only a few hun- 
dred dollars each to start with ; but it did not then need a fortune, 
as it does now, to start as a publisher. Their limited funds, however, 
were somewhat increased by a small loan from their father, and 
thus with light hearts and clear consciences they ventured all in 
a few fonts of type, and a press, and hired an office in Dover 
street, the site of which they could until recently overlook from 
their Franklin Square windows; but which the New York approach 
of the great East River bridge has now partially obliterated. 
Here they put up the sign of "J. & J. Harper," and patiently 
awaited customers. They had not long to wait; already some who 
knew of their intention to open an office were ready with their 
jobs. The young partners did not hesitate to use their own hands, 
either in composition or press-work, and none of their employes 
worked harder than they did. 

The first book which they undertook was a reprint of a very 
old work, "Seneca's Morals ;" this was not published on their own 
account, but for the then well-known publisher, Evert Duyckinck ; 
it was an edition of 2,000, and was satisfactorily completed in 
August, 1817, James Harper being then a few months over twenty- 
two. Their next order was a larger and far more important one, 
and was given by the business committee of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church of New York, who required a stereotyped edition 
of the Book of Common Prayer — quite a compliment to the young 
firm, with so many older rivals in the field. The Harpers were 
not yet stereotypers, but this order caused them to become so. 
On taking this job, they had intended to do the composition, and 
make up the forms, and then have the stereotyping done at another 
establishment; but finding that the cost of the latter would eat up 
all their profits, they decided to learn the art of stereotyping, and 
introduce it into their own office; they accomplished this, but not 



276 HARPER BROTHERS. 

without considerable difficulty, for those already in the trade did 
not care to aid in setting up two enterprising rivals at their own 
doors. But perseverance overcomes all obstacles, and before the 
close of the year, the prayer book, stereotyped in their own office, 
was ready for delivery. This was quite an important step forward, 
as it made them known to a large number of wealthy business 
men, and the work was so well done, that praise from many unex- 
pected sources flowed in upon them ; it being pronounced " the 
best stereotyping ever done in the city." 

Hitherto they had only filled orders, venturing nothing at their 
own risk, but during the second year of their business enterprise 
they published on their own account a small edition of "Locke's 
Essay upon the Human Understanding ; " of this only 500 copies 
were printed, but they disposed of them at a good profit; yet they 
moved forward cautiously, and did not make themselves any illu- 
sions as to sudden success. Neither did they relax their own 
individual efforts to make each book as perfect in its way as the 
means at their command permitted. They also took the precau- 
tion, before issuing a work of any kind, to ascertain from leading 
booksellers how many copies they would take ; the rule they 
adopted being, not to print a work unless sufficient orders were 
received in advance to pay the actual cost of production — the 
profits they expected to make out of orders after the book was 
published ; in this way they could scarcely make a failure, nor does 
it anywhere appear that they did. The reprint of foreign works 
was a leading feature of their business, and this, of course, with 
old standard works, saved authors' royalties ; but it is rather a 
curious fact that these young men should have habitually selected, 
and that the public should buy, such dry, philosophical and meta- 
physical works as formed the basis of their publications for several 
years. 

There were still two other brothers learning the printer's trade, 
Joseph Wesley and Fletcher Harper. Joseph W. was added to 
the firm in 1823, and Fletcher three years later, the present firm- 



HARPER BROTHERS. 277 

name being adopted in 1825 ; and about the same time the office 
was removed to 81 and 82 Cliff street, in the rear of their present 
building. 

In this new location, and with their reinforced firm, " Harper 
Brothers " greatly extended the scope of their publications, and in 
1840 their two buildings were increased to several on both sides 
of Cliff street; three of these had formerly been dwelling-houses, 
for that part of the city was then in a transition state, and many 
people of means still lived " down-town," below the City Hall ; but 
even these enlarged facilities were not sufficient to accommodate 
the Harpers' rapidly enlarging business, and in 1850 they erected 
a more commodious structure on Franklin Square, running back 
to Cliff street. Franklin Square is rather high ground, but it 
rapidly falls away toward Cliff street, which really forms a section 
of that part of the city known as " the swamp " — and a swamp it 
originally was. It is now crossed by the arches of the East River 
Bridge. 

The elder Harpers had been in business over thirty years before 
they commenced the issue of the "Monthly Magazine," which has 
held the lead of all our illustrated monthlies since 1850. It was 
received into popular favor at once ; and although a series of rivals 
have appeared upon the scene, and one after another have become 
the fashion for a season, " Harper's Monthly " still holds the field 
against all comers, and with its London branch issues nearly dou- 
ble the number of any other monthly. Seven years later " Har- 
per's Weekly" was established, and about a dozen years later still, 
"Harper's Bazar," both of which publications seem to fill a pub- 
lic-need; the latter the feminine portion of the community would 
scarcely know how to dispense with. Indeed the Harpers have 
generally shown great tact in the books they have selected for 
publication ; those who are well informed of their interior history 
affirm that they have scarcely ever made the mistake of issuing an 
unsalable book ; and this sort of judgment implies a very close 
study of the popular taste. So far they had gone on prosperously, 



278 HARPER BROTHERS. 

without a single important drawback, with their workshops on 
Cliff street, and the new building on the Square, in which was all 
the improved machinery which modern inventions had produced 
up to the last month of 1853. Then the fate which had overtaken 
so many New York establishments was theirs — the fire-fiend 
broke loose and destroyed in a few hours the labor of over thirty 
years of toil and enterprise ; a simple accident, the throwing of a 
lighted paper, by a workman, into a pail of camphene, which he 
" thought was water," destroyed in manuscripts, books, plates, 
type, machinery, etc., property worth a million of dollars, on which 
there was only about twenty-five thousand dollars insurance. 

This great loss and misfortune came, however, upon the firm 
when their credit was thoroughly established, and they had no 
trouble in making- an immediate contract for the erection of a new, 
handsomer and greatly enlarged building on the same site which 
they now occupy, facing on Franklin Square, the lots on Cliff 
street being also utilized for a rear building, the two being con- 
nected by iron bridges over an open court, which gives light to 
the rear of both buildings : the main and annex building are re- 
spectively six and seven stories in height, and are absolutely fire- 
proof as any building can be made ; and one peculiarity of these 
buildings is, that there are no internal stairways, except the short 
flight leading from the street to the first floor above the basement; 
the higher stories are reached by spiral iron stairways outside, on 
the rear of the buildings. The experience of the fire had taught 
them many things ; and now, for the preservation of their stereo- 
type plates, long vaults or tunnels have been built under Franklin 
Square, in which they are stored and preserved from all risks. 

Up to the 25th of March, 1869, Mr. James Harper, the original 
founder of this great business, remained its head ; though there 
was nothing in his manner to indicate that his junior partners were 
not in every sense on an equal footing with him. Though nearly 
seventy-five years of age he was alert and active, taking a personal 
interest in everything about the business as he had done forty 



HARPER BROTHERS. 279 

years before ; but on that day, while riding with his daughter, as 
was his habit in the afternoon, when nearing Central Park the pole 
of his carriage broke, the frightened horses became unmanageable 
and dashed away with the carriage at a furious rate ; encountering 
some slight obstacle, Mr. Harper and his daughter were both 
thrown violently to the ground. Miss Harper was not much hurt, 
but her father was taken up insensible and conveyed to St. Luke's 
Hospital, which was a short distance from the scene of the acci- 
dent, and where the promptest and best medical attention could 
be secured ; but medical aid was useless ; severe concussion of the 
brain had produced unconsciousness, from which he never rallied ; 
he lingered some forty-eight hours, and then quietly passed away 
on the evening of the 27th. Mr. Harper's sudden death awakened 
wide-spread sympathy, particularly in the city of New York, where 
he was personally known to hundreds of persons, and was recog- 
nized on the street by thousands who remembered with gratitude 
the one Mayor of New York who had distinguished himself by 
keeping the streets of the city clean. This was in 1844, when he 
was elected to the mayoralty on the Native American ticket. 
With the exception of one successful episode, he had never taken 
any very active part in politics ; and though often solicited to allow 
himself to be nominated for Congress and other political positions, 
he invariably declined. He was a man of very genial disposition, 
and was full of pleasant reminiscences of anecdotes, with a strong 
infusion of humor; he looked what he was — a contented man, and 
one whose ear was always open to any appeal, either from his 
workmen or others, which was based on justice. He knew all the 
hands in his large establishment by sight, and always had a friendly 
word ready when meeting any of the old employes. He retained 
in his family the old custom of family prayers, and, though a 
Methodist, used to some extent the Episcopal forms ; and it was 
noted by his family that, for some time previous to the fatal acci- 
dent, he had omitted the words, " preserve us from sudden death." 
Some of the family noticed the omission and called his attention 
to it, when he simply answered, " The Lord knows best." 



280 HARPER BROTHERS. 

Eight years later all of the original firm had joined their elder 
brother, and gone over to the " great majority." Joseph Wesley 
died on the following 14th of February, 1870; John died in April, 
1875, an d Fletcher on May 29th, 1877. After the decease of the 
last member of the old firm, a reorganization took place, and an 
equal partnership was formed among the sons of the deceased : 
there are now six of them, and though some of them are of course 
cousins, the old firm-name was retained; there is, we believe, no 
legal inequality in the standing of the several members of the 
present partnership, though the visitors and habitues of the con- 
cern have spontaneously placed Mr. Joseph W. at the head. He 
is a well-preserved gentleman, now about sixty years of age, 
pleasant and genial in society, of solid frame and florid com- 
plexion. Those who heard him at the "Holmes Breakfast" in 
Boston, will remember also that he is something of an orator. He 
has been twice married, and had the misfortune to lose his eldest 
son, Mr. Fletcher U. Harper, about two years ago. Mr. Joseph 
W. Harper, in conjunction with other members of the firm, has 
taken an active part in trying to secure an International Copyright 
Treaty, of such a character as would permit the extended diffusion 
of English reprints in this country, from which the British pub- 
lisher would be practically excluded from participation in the pro- 
fits. In his argument, addressed to the Department of State, he 
argues that the interests of the American author and publisher 
are identical, but that the interests of the American and British 
publisher are necessarily in opposition. This latter fact " Harper 
Brothers" have had ample opportunity to know, as their publica- 
tions consist very largely of English reprints, particularly in the 
department of fiction. 

The present Harper establishment occupies a space of one hun- 
dred and twenty feet on Franklin Square, by one hundred and 
seventy feet in depth, reaching through to Cliff street, comprising 
an area of ten city lots, about half an acre. The building on 
Franklin Square contains the finished book depository, the offices 



HARPER BROTHERS. 28 1 

of the firm and warerooms ; the facade of the building is wholly of 
iron, painted white, each story having twenty-one ornamental col- 
umns, and over the main entrance stands a full-length figure of 
Franklin. The heavy work is done in the rear building. For- 
merly they did a great deal of stereotyping, but of late years this 
has been superseded by the electrotype process. Everything re- 
lating to the making of a book is done in this establishment : the 
author leaves his manuscript, and in due time the type is set, the 
forms electrotyped, the plates printed from, the printed pages 
folded and sewed, the binding put on, plain or ornamented, gilded 
or embossed ; even the marbling of paper for covers is done here ; 
all the artistic work of enofravinor illustrations for books and the 
serial productions of the Harpers is done by a large corps of 
artists, most being wood-engravers, though other processes are 
used. 

The catalogue of the Harper Brothers for 1883 consists of 348 
closely printed pages, and includes every variety of literature, from 
fairy tales to the highest philosophy, though if they have a pen- 
chant for any particular class of publications, it is for works of 
travel. 



CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 

It is now nearly ninety years since a plain, honest farmer of 
Staten Island was rejoicing over the birth of his firstborn son, a 
bright, healthy boy, but in general appearance not different from 
thousands of other children of the same age, and if some enthusi- 
astic friend had then and there prophesied that this boy would 
develop extraordinary capacity, that he would by middle age vir- 
tually control a large portion of the commerce of the State, and 
eventually die the possessor of over $100,000,000, with what de- 
rision and incredulity would such a horoscope have been greeted! 
Yet all of this, and more, was fulfilled in the life of Cornelius Van- 
derbilt. If this was the proper place, it would be a curious and 
interesting investigation to seek out the physiological and psycho- 
logical peculiarities which made this lad to differ so widely from 
his own family, and the majority of his fellow-men. But we must 
leave such questions to the scientists, and proceed to give the 
outlines of the life and transactions of this financial genius. At 
the time of the birth of Cornelius Vanderbilt, April 27, 1794, his 
father, for whom he was named, was in fairly comfortable circum- 
stances, but had not secured enough of this world's goods to even 
dream of a life without toil, such as many of his descendants now 
enjoy, for numerous brothers and sisters came in course of time, 
and household or farm duties were shared alike by parents and 
children. 

Some attempt at school education was made with Cornelius, but 
the boy did not take kindly to his books, and after a few years of 
intermittent attendance at school, and the imperfect acquisition of 
the most elementary studies, the schoolhouse was abandoned, and 
before a dozen years had passed over his head we find the future 
(282) 




CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 



CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 283 

railway king an efficient helper of his father on the farm and on 
the water ; for the senior Vanderbilt owned one or more boats, 
with which he conveyed his produce to the city for sale, and Cor- 
nelius was reliable and industrious — quick to learn — everything 
but letters. 

A pleasing instance of the confidence with which he was treated 
by his father, and of his youthful capacity and self-reliance, is given 
in an anecdote well authenticated, of a transaction which occurred 
when he was only twelve years old. It seems that a vessel had 
been stranded near Sandy Hook, and the elder Vanderbilt had 
taken a contract to unload the wreck and transfer the cargo to the 
owners in New York ; this was to be done by engaging lighters 
to take the goods across the bay; but from the fact that the vessel 
lay high on the sands, the lighters could not approach her within 
a considerable distance ; it was therefore necessary to haul the 
goods to another point, where there was deeper water. For this 
purpose wagons were used, and on this service young Cornelius 
was employed, taking charge of the horses and wagons. The 
goods being all transferred to the lighters, the boy set out for 
home with his teams. He had to drive several miles to South 
Amboy, in New Jersey, and there take the ferry to Staten Island ; 
but his father had omitted to furnish him with any money for the 
ferriage, which amounted to six dollars. For a moment the boy 
was in doubt how to overcome the difficulty, but soon made up his 
mind ; he went to the keeper of the tavern, and offered to leave 
with him one of the horses as surety, if he would loan him the 
money. The man had never seen him before, but was naturally 
struck with surprise at seeing such a youth intrusted with the 
undertaking which he had described, and admiring his pluck, 
readily gave him the money. The horse was promptly redeemed 
within forty-eight hours. His most remarkable trait as a boy was 
his determination — what he planned to do, he did ; so, that among 
his companions, if it was known that Cornelius Vanderbilt meant 
to do anything, it was considered as already done. Later in life 



284 CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 

he was very reticent of his intentions ; as Shakespeare puts the 
phrase into the mouth of a prudent person, 

" Since what I well intend 
I'll do't before I speak." 

It is a very common thing for boys in a seaport to have, at some 
period of their youth, a strong desire to go to sea, and Cornelius 
did not escape the mania natural to his age and location. His 
homestead was on the shore of the glorious bay of New York, 
second to none in this hemisphere for beauty and ever-succeeding 
visions of picturesque activity. Young Vanderbilt knew every 
craft belonging to the port by sight ; he watched the ships that 
sailed for Europe come and go, and could tell the build and rig- 
ging of every sail-boat and coaster that came and went through the 
sound, or trafficked on the rivers ; he never mistook a sloop for a 
schooner, or a brig for a bark. Is it any wonder that he longed 
to extend his sphere of vision, and increase his experience by 
foreign voyages ? Indeed, we know of no seaport more seductive 
in its outlines to an imaginative or ambitious lad, than is offered 
by the bay of New York. The "'Narrows" have the effect upon 
the eye of an ever-open door— leading out into the world beyond; 
and into that great unknown young Cornelius longed for egress. 
Neither had the water any terrors for him, but was rather like a 
familiar creature, with which he toyed in his brief moments of 
recreation, and made serviceable in his serious hours. For- 
tunately for himself, he did not positively decide to become a 
sailor. On this subject he sensibly consulted his mother, who 
finally dissuaded him from it. He persisted, however, in declining 
farm-work as his permanent choice — if he could not be a sailor, 
then he would be a boatman — that was practicable, and would not 
separate him permanently from his home. But youth in those 
days had not all the liberties of the present. It was customary for 
parents then to require all the earnings of their children until 
they had arrived at their majority ; and they were rarely allowed 



CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 285 

to pick and choose what they would do. Despite all this, Cor- 
nelius meant to have a boat. He applied, as usual in all straits, 
to his mother (who was not only an oracle to the family, but to a 
widely extended neighborhood), described what he expected to 
do with it, and argued that he could earn more money with it 
than in any other way. In short, he wanted a hundred dollars to 
buy a boat. 

His maternal parent, having gained her main point of prevent- 
ing the seafaring project, was not inflexible on the new request, 
but she gave him a heavy task. His appeal was made on the ist 
day of May, 1810. There was on the farm an eight-acre lot, 
which was such poor ground — hard, rough and stony — that it had 
never been brought under cultivation. Mrs. Vanderbilt promised 
her son that if he would plough, harrow and plant that lot with 
corn before the 27th of the month (the day on which he would be 
seventeen) he should have the hundred dollars. It was hard 
work, but he did it. He received the hundred dollars, and the 
farm was benefited to the extent of an addition of eight acres 
brought into use. Cornelius knew just where the boat lay which 
he wanted; he had long had his eye upon it. Hastening to a 
neighboring settlement the purchase was made, and probably 
gave him more triumphant happiness than many hundred-thou- 
sand-dollar purchases which came later in his career. He started 
in his boat for home ; but whether it was that elation made him 
less careful than usual, or that the obstruction was unknown to 
him, when nearing home his boat struck upon a sunken wreck, 
and it was with great difficulty that he beached her, so rapidly did 
she fill with water. But the disaster was soon remedied, and its 
proud owner immediately took his place as a regular boatman 
plying between Staten Island and New York, carrying passengers 
or freight as desired. Certainly thus far in his career there had 
been no " luck ; " everything had been gained by hard work. He 
soon made his mark, in his new vocation, as a person who could 
be trusted ; he was prompt, persevering, and worked many more 



286 CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 

hours out of the twenty-four than any of his competitors on that 
bay. Many nights he worked all night, although most of our 
modern youth would have thought it very discouraging to be 
obliged to give up all his day earnings to his parents, and half of 
his night profits, which he did, and with the residue he clothed 
himself. Certainly he could have had no expensive bad habits, for 
all his money was accounted for. The first three years he made 
about one thousand dollars per annum; and it was conceded that 
he had the best boat, and the best reputation as a boatman, on the 
bay. 

Up to this time Cornelius had been a profitable son to his 
parents. He was now nineteen, and yet lacking two years of his 
majority ; but he wished to marry, and of course could not do so 
unless his parents surrendered their right to his earnings. Ap- 
proving of his choice, they did so, and a neighbor's daughter, Miss 
Sophia Johnson, became his wife. She proved every way a help- 
meet to him, in council and action, and late in life he frequently 
acknowledged her ever loyal consideration and assistance. 

Cornelius Vanderbilt engaged in boating, and after a few years 
of successful business built for himself a small steamer, named the 
"Caroline;" which, after serving his purposes, passed into other 
hands, meeting with an uncommon fate. This was the famous 
" Caroline " which figured in the Canadian waters during the 
so-called " Rebellion," a generation ago. The steamer was cut 
from her moorings at Black Rock, set on fire, and, like some 
sacrificial offering, launched by an excited party of patriots, with 
her head turned toward the rapids, which bore her, wrapped in 
flames, over the mighty falls, where in a moment she was 
dashed to pieces in the whirlpool of raging waters below. 
From this time onward Vanderbilt continued building steamers, 
mostly for the river and coasting trade, until his numerous 
fleet gained for him, by spontaneous acclamation, the title 
of "Commodore" which was never afterwards dropped. Al- 
together, including the ocean steamers which came later in his 



CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 287 

career, he was wholly or part owner of one hundred vessels, not a 
single one of which was wrecked, burnt or destroyed by explo- 
sion.* This remarkable fact can only be accounted for by the ex- 
treme care with which he selected his principal officers, and secur- 
ing the very best men attainable, he always treated them with a 
liberality which secured their fidelity and even personal attachment. 

It was when he was at the zenith of his Steamboat operations 
that he built the world-renowned " North Star," a pleasure steam- 
yacht of princely dimensions, in which, with some of his family and 
a party of friends, he visited Europe, spending the summer of 1853 
in calling at the various ports of the Mediterranean, the British 
Isles, the North Sea and the Baltic. At this period such visitors 
from America were a novelty on the other side, and the party were 
consequently the recipients of much attention and many pleasant 
courtesies. It is a gracious act to record that on the return of the 
" North Star," in September, when coming in sight of the old 
homestead and Staten Island, " Commodore " Vanderbilt ordered 
a grand salute to be fired in honor of his aged mother. 

Two years later two ocean steamships were built by him to run 
to Havre, the only European line ever owned by an individual. 
At this time the " Collins Line " to England was receiving a sub- 
sidy from the United States government for carrying the mails. 
Vanderbilt wished to form a partnership with Collins, but the latter 
declined ; yet when the "Arctic " was lost the former offered the 
use of the "North Star" until his rival could replace her; Mr. 
Vanderbilt even offering to forego the mail subsidy for the period 
during which the "North Star" should perform the service; still 
Collins refused : he seemed to be afraid lest the " Commodore," 
getting a foothold, would absorb the whole. Nothing daunted, 
Mr. Vanderbilt's next move was an offer to Congress to carry the 
United States mails free of cost to the government ; in conse- 
quence of which the subsidy hitherto paid to Collins was with- 

*The "Westfield," which he built, and which exploded at her dock, near the Battery, was not 
at the time of the accident owned by Cornelius, but by his brother Jacob. 



288 CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 

drawn, and the "Collins Line" soon disappeared from the ocean. 
But Vanderbilt did not follow up his success by establishing an- 
other, as it was expected he would do; he probably " saw no money 
in it," and he was not the man to carry on an enterprise knight- 
errant fashion, yet for the gratification of a sentiment, though not 
lacking in patriotism, as afterwards appeared. He was thorough 
American in his feelings, and on one occasion when a traveled 
friend suggested, that with so much wealth he " wondered he was 
contented to remain in the States," adding, " I should think you 
would transfer your funds and go and reside in Europe." 

" Not I," said the commodore, emphatically ; " my money was 
made here, and here it ought to be spent, and shall be." 

But his attention was now directed to a totally different point, 
and of an almost equally ambitious character as the " Collins " 
enterprise. 

In 1849 he obtained from the government of Nicaragua a charter 
for a company, under the name of the "American Atlantic and 
Pacific Ship Canal Company," going personally to England to 
raise additional funds for the gigantic work contemplated. In 
1851 the name of this company was changed to that of the "Ac- 
cessory Transit Company." Commodore Vanderbilt went to Cen- 
tral America and carefully inspected the whole region in which he 
intended to operate. He placed two steamers on the river, the 
" Clayton " and " Bulwer," and another of large size, the " Central 
America," on the lake. He also went himself up the San Juan 
river above the Castillo rapids, a feat previously deemed impos- 
sible. He caused strong cables to be fastened to the trees on the 
banks, and thus warped his boat over the perilous course. Up 
to this time the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, connecting with 
the Panama Railroad, had enjoyed all the carrying trade with Cali- 
fornia, charging passengers $600 in gold from New York. Under 
his grant from the Nicaraguan government Vanderbilt started an 
opposition line : putting his first ocean-built steamer, the " Pro- 
metheus," and then the "Webster," "Star of the West" and the 



CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 289 

"Northern Light," on the Atlantic side, and on the Pacific five 
others. He then put the through fare down to $300, and started 
his boats promptly every fortnight ; he consequently soon had the 
cream of the trade, building many additional steamers, and in 
every direction accumulating immense sums, adding to his already 
large fortune. 

In 1853 he sold out to the Transit Company, and Mr. Charles 
Morgan became its president; but in 1856 he re-entered into that 
office. But now an unexpected character appeared on the scene 
and changed the course of events. An individual known in local 
phrase as the " filibuster " Walker, who had entered Nicaragua as 
a revolutionist, seized upon Mr. Vanderbilt's franchise, and, with- 
out any regard to right or justice, resold it to other parties — 
creatures of his own. The commodore consequently withdrew 
his steamers from the Central American waters, selling the greater 
part of them at a good profit, getting out of this enterprise over 
$2,000,000 richer than he went in. 

From this period he began by degrees withdrawing his interest 
from shipping, to some extent, and investing in railroads ; ten years 
later he was director in several ; and when the war broke out in 
i860 his investments were already in great measure transferred 
from the water to the land, so that his prosperity suffered no 
special shock by the practical destruction of our foreign carrying 
trade. 

Having gained considerable experience in the manipulation of 
stocks, he invested largely, more especially, in " Harlem," " Hud- 
son River " and " Central." One of his most successful operations 
was in connection with Harlem. He had bought heavily of this 
stock when it was in a most depressed condition, advancing to the 
company a large sum of money, and consequently was placed 
upon the directors' board, and in 1863 became president of the 
road. Under his judicious management, and perhaps the magic 
of his name, with which success seemed ever allied, the stock which 
had been at 30 in January rose in July to 92, and by a skillful 
J 9 



29O CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 

manoeuvre was made to take a sudden jump in August up to 
179. The next year occurred the famous " corner in Harlem," 
which sent this stock up to the astounding figure of 285 ! 

It was after this grand " bulling " exploit that the directors of 
the Central road, coveting his influence, offered him the presidency. 
He bought the Hudson River Railroad outright, and had now 
in New York State but one rival in the field worthy of his metal 
— this was the Erie road, then identified with the names of the 
famous trio, Daniel Drew, Jay Gould and James Fisk. Vander- 
bilt wished to procure the consolidation of the " Harlem " and 
" Hudson River," and for this purpose caused a bill to be pre- 
sented to the legislature at Albany. Of course, Mr. Vanderbilt 
had " seen ".or caused to be seen a sufficient number of the mem- 
bers to secure a majority for his bill. But whether it was under 
the suggestion of his ever-watchful antagonist, Mr. Drew, or arose 
from the speculating minds of members, or of the lobby, treachery- 
cropped out and a coalition was formed to defeat the bill, its 
deserting friends evidently believing that they could make more 
in that way than by passing it. Many privately "gave away the 
point " to their friends, that Harlem stock could soon be bought 
for a song. But this conspiracy was not so secretly managed but 
that it reached the ears of Harlem's president. He made no 
protest to his defaulting friends in the assembly, but quietly went 
into the market and bought up every scrap of Harlem stock to 
be found. In the meanwhile the derelict assemblymen and their 
friends had been selling Harlem "short" for future delivery. The 
bill for the consolidation was defeated, and the conspirators looked 
to see Harlem fall. To their astonishment it stood firm, and when 
they went into the market to buy the stock for delivery there 
was none to be had ; they were consequently obliged to pay on 
" call " the value of the stock, which they had sold at a high price. 
Many of the speculators were ruined; while Vanderbilt's gains 
began to roll up in fabulous sums. 

But his opponent, Drew, who had suffered severely by the pre- 



CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 20 1 

vious corner in Harlem, was now at the head of the " Erie," and 
soon a battle royal took place between these railroad kings. 
Vanderbilt was original assailant, bringing on one of the most re- 
markable financial wars in history. " Erie " was at this time seek- 
ing to extend her connections west, and, for this purpose, it was 
deemed necessary by the directors to issue new bonds to build a 
broad-gauge road. This new issue Vanderbilt aimed to prevent, 
as every improvement in Erie was supposed to detract from the 
profits of the Central and the Hudson. At this time, what with 
the alliance of Jay Gould and James Fisk, as well as Drew, who 
were interested in Erie, this was a combination hard to beat. 
There followed along an interesting struggle ; injunctions and 
counter-injunctions were every-day proceedings, and at one period 
the directors of Erie, with Drew at their head, fled to Jersey to 
escape the service of legal papers. At least two judges were 
seriously implicated during these proceedings. One was im- 
peached for bribery, and another prudently resigned. In the end, 1 
however, Drew beat the commodore, receiving the legislative 
authority to issue new stock, and pocketing about $7,000,000 of 
Vanderbilt's money. The latter, however, nothing daunted, sur- 
prised the "street" by his firm and courageous bearing and the 
evidence that even the loss of so large a sum could not cripple 
him, and, to add to his eclat, the same year the Central declared a 
dividend of eighty per cent., and was consolidated with the 
Hudson. This grand combination of three profitable railroads — 
Harlem, Central and Hudson — in one pair of hands marks a 
new era in railroad management. If Drew was a railroad king, 
Vanderbilt was now emperor. Vanderbilt's skill in management 
was as great as his ambition to accumulate ; he never borrowed to 
pay dividends, as was a frequent custom ; they came from the ac- 
tual earnings. 

From this time onward it has been impossible to exactly estimate 
the wealth of the railroad emperor. At the time of the consolida- 
tion of the Harlem and Hudson the property was estimated at 



292 CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 

$35,000,000; he very soon increased the capital to $90,000,000, 
and, on this enormous sum, paid annual dividends of eight per 
cent. His will did not disclose the amount he left, but it was 
probably near $100,000,000. Some of his uses of money may be 
considered as public benefits, and in these are included his im- 
provements in railroad accommodations. In 1862, during- the 
most depressed period of the Union forces during the war, he 
made the magnificent gift of his splendid steamer, the " Vander- 
bilt," to the Government. Its cost was about $800,000. The 
United States was greatly in need of vessels, and the gift was 
timely and valuable. Congress passed a resolution of thanks and 
ordered a gold medal, commemorative of the event, to be struck 
and presented to him. 

It will naturally be imagined that a man of the vigorous energy 
of the commodore, whose almost unvarying success had been won 
by his own personal qualities, and was owed in no way to luck or 
fate, would have small patience with weaklings of any kind, even 
in his own family. This disposition betrayed itself in his lifetime, 
and eventually caused him to make a wide discrimination as to the 
disposition of his immense fortune. His son Cornelius never 
stood very high in the commodore's estimation ; he was not pru- 
dent in his use of money, nor in any sense a good financier. It 
was often difficult for this young man to get money from his father 
in his frequent emergencies ; consequently " Corneel," as he was 
commonly called, often had recourse to other friends for temporary 
loans, and among the most liberal of these was the late Horace 
Greeley. The commodore, hearing of this, and naturally sup- 
posing that the ci-devant editor of the Tribune would finally look 
to him for reimbursement, determined to put his veto on these 
transactions. Marching with his ponderous form and heavy tread 
into the sanctum one day, he abruptly greeted the editor with the 
remark : 
■" Mr. Greeley, I hear you are lending Corneel money." 

Greeley took his time to finish a line or two, and then slowly 
answered, " Yes, I have let him have some." 



CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 



293 



"Well, now I give you notice that you needn't look to me. I 
sha'n't pay it." 

"Who the devil asked you?" rejoined Greeley; "I haven't, 
have I?" Not another word was said, and the commodore 
stalked out 

Corneel, though in bad odor generally with his father, had for- 
tunately made a marriage which pleased the old gentleman; his 
wife was a Miss Williams, of Hartford, now deceased. When 
Corneel needed money to fit up a house in that city, he could get 
none from his father ; at last his wife made an essay. 

" How much do you want?" asked the father-in-law 

" dollars," was the reply. 

The commodore drew his check and handed it to her. If he 
thought anything about it afterwards, it was probably in the ex- 
pectation that another request of the same sort would follow. 
Nor was he surprised when a few weeks later Corneel's wife again 
appeared in his office. 

"What now?" asked the commodore. 

" Nothing, papa ; only I've brought back dollars; it was 

more than I needed, and I've brought you what's left." 

It was probably the first experience of that kind which Mr. 
Vanderbilt had ever met with, and, whether it was shrewdness or 
innocence on the part of Mrs. Cornelius, Jr., it worked to a charm. 
From that time forward " Corneel's wife " could get anything out 
of her father-in-law. 

It was one of the pleasant traits of Commodore Vanderbilt's 
character that he never forgot his origin, nor the old homestead ; 
in fact, though he lived for many years, during the latter part of 
his life, in New York city, No. 10 Washington Place, his first grand 
house was in Staten Island, and built upon a corner of his father's 
farm, which he had bought when quite a young man, and which, 
before he built upon it, was recognized by the neighbors as " Cor- 
neel's lot." Its sight, when bought, was on the northeast corner 
of the farm and very near the water's edge, but later improve- 



294 CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. 

ments in filling in carried out the shore-line nearly an eighth of a 
mile beyond the house, which is situated upon a rise of land over- 
looking the bay ; the approach being handsomely terraced, and 
separated from the road by a substantial stone coping and high 
iron fence. The mansion subsequently passed into the hands of 
George Law, and later was bought by Mr. George H. Daly, and 
while it was occupied by him as a residence was almost entirely 
destroyed by fire. The roof was utterly consumed, and the whole 
interior ruined. The loss was fully covered by insurance, and the 
building was reconstructed by the owner. To those who take an 
interest in looking up the habitations of distinguished men, and 
would like to see the sometime residence of the great railroad 
king, we would suggest that they take the Staten Island ferry to 
Tompkinsville, and walk toward Stapleton by the beautiful " Shore 
road;" midway between these places will be found the house which 
Mr. Vanderbilt erected for his permanent home. 

Mr. Vanderbilt's death occurred on the morning of the 4th 
of January, 1877, after the illness of six months, the result of a 
complication of diseases. The great bulk of his gigantic fortune 
descended to his son William H. 

Commodore Vanderbilt was the father of thirteen children by 
his first wife — four sons and nine daughters — nearly all of whom 
lived to adult age. His second wife, whom he married late in life, 
was a Miss Crawford, of Mobile, Ala. And to this accomplished 
lady and devoted Christian is to be attributed the influence which 
caused the endowment of the "Vanderbilt University," located at 
Nashville, Tenn., and the gift to Dr. Deems of the Church of the 
Strangers, with those other beneficent acts which marked the last 
years of the veteran financier's life. A model woman in domestic 
and social life, she still survives, sharing her wealth with the needy, 
encouraging every good word and work, making the name of Van- 
derbilt known and respected in circles of usefulness and piety, far 
removed from the passions and struggles of Wall street and the 
stock exchange. 




WM. H VANDERBIL1, 



WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT. 

William H. Vanderbilt, eldest son of the preceding, was born 
in New York city, in 1821. He received a good education in one 
of the many excellent private academies, which were at that time 
more popular with people of means than the public schools. He 
was a good average scholar, popular with his companions, but 
without any special inclination for letters. From some undiscov- 
ered reason, the commodore had fixed his mind on one of his 
younger sons as his future business successor. As William grew 
towards man's estate, his father's wealth was rapidly increasing, 
so that there was no need for haste in the selection of a calling or 
profession. If the young man had any peculiar leaning at this 
time towards any pursuit, or if he desired to enter the arena of 
speculation, his father did not regard his wishes. After concluding 
his studies at Columbia College grammar school, he entered, for 
a short period, the house of Drew, Robinson & Co., New York. 
It was not long after his majority that he wooed and won for his 
wife the estimable Miss Louisa Kissam, daughter Q f the Rev. Dr. 
Kissam, of Albany, N. Y. As the commodore up to this time had 
not perceived in his eldest son any peculiar fitness for the career 
of a financier, he bought him a farm of between two and three 
hundred acres, at New Dorp, on the easterly side of Staten Island. 
Though not a farmer from choice, Mr. Vanderbilt took hold of his 
new profession with energy, employing a skilled farmer to supple- 
ment his own lack of knowledge of agriculture ; he soon became 
interested in his new possession, and in the course of a few years 
there was no better or more productive farm in Richmond county 
than his. 

But a farm of limited size, with plenty of competitors near by, 

(295) 



296 WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT. 

with nearly all the labor on the place to be paid for in solid cash, 
could never at any time or under any superior system of culture 
be made to yield a very abundant income for a growing- family. 
Mr. William H. Vanderbilt did not propose to force his sons to 
become farmers. He added, in the course of years, sufficient acres 
to nearly double the original boundaries of his land ; but with all 
his natural prudence debts accumulated, and to raise the sum of 
$8,000 he was obliged at one time to give a mortgage for that 
amount on his place. 

The neighbor who advanced him the money was very loqua- 
cious, and not very discreet ; meeting with his jovial friends over 
a social glass he would draw out his mortgage papers, displaying 
them to the crowd, and boast of having such a lien on the farm of 
the great financier's son ; for the name of the commodore was at 
this time known throughout the country, and his large wealth 
already counted by millions. On one of these occasions he was 
accidentally seen and overheard by a cousin of Mr. Vanderbilt, 
who, annoyed and indignant at the man's impertinence and bad 
taste, went the next morning to the commodore's office, and nar- 
rated the circumstance. This brought the elder gentleman to 
reflection. He immediately ordered his carriage drove over to 
New Dorp, and inquired of his son if it was true that he owed 
money. 

William replied in the affirmative, explaining that with the in- 
crease in his family, expenses necessarily multiplied, and that he 
had to raise money somewhere. 

" Well," said the commodore, V come over to my office in the 
morning; I am loaning a little on real estate myself now!" On 
his way back to the city, he called on the mortgagee, and re- 
quested him to bring his papers over the next day. Thus the 
affair was brought to a happier conclusion than William had an- 
ticipated. The commodore took up the mortgage, and William 
heard no more about it. And in this peaceful, if not quite satis- 
factory sphere of gentleman-farmer, within about a dozen miles of 



WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT. 297 

Wall street, where his father's name was a power almost irresist- 
ible, and at whose word millions changed hands in a day, this 
"heir apparent" to the great railroad king passed nearly thirty 
years of his early manhood and middle prime ; his father, mean- 
while, placing his expectations of a successor upon his son George, 
who was educated at West Point, and who, in the Union army 
before Corinth, contracted a disease from which he never recov- 
ered. 

In the hopes of receiving benefit from change of air and scene, 
he went to Europe, but never returned, dying in Paris, thus com- 
pletely shattering the hopes which his father had placed upon him. 
Another son had died in early life, and the only one remaining be- 
sides William was Cornelius Jeremiah, who was born in 1830, and 
who had never shown either the capacity or stability of the eldest 
born. Cornelius J. — " Corneel," as he was commonly called — had 
neither the physique nor the disposition of either of his parents ; 
he seemed to be in every respect the opposite of the grand figure 
of the commodore. His taste for high play rendered it impossi- 
ble to intrust him with the funds of others, while his physical disa- 
bilities made his life at times a burden to himself. This was the 
son who, after his father's death, brought on, together with one 
other member of the family, the great " will " contest. Suffering, 
as he thought, unjustly from his father's continual criticisms and 
displeasure, when about eighteen years of age Cornelius left his 
home and took ship, as a hand before the mast, in a vessel bound 
for California (in 1849), during the height of the gold mania. 
On his return, after only a brief stay there, his father caused him 
to be placed in the Bloomingdale insane asylum ; the only evidence 
of insanity appeared to be the fact that he had used his father's 
name to procure funds when suffering from actual need in San 
Francisco. This incarceration did not last long, however, and sub- 
sequently his father made him a moderate allowance on which to 
live, increasing this considerably after his marriage, in 1856. As 
will be remembered by most of our readers, the suit at law was 



298 WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT. 

compromised by Mr. William H. Vanderbilt paying the expenses 
of the suit and the payment of $1,000,000 to Cornelius J. This 
unfortunate young man, after honorably settling his numerous 
debts in New York — notably the large amount he owed to the 
heirs of the late Horace Greeley — finally ended his life by suicide, 
on the 2d of April, 1882, at the Glenham Hotel, on Fifth avenue, 
New York. 

From this slight reference to the way of life and habits of 
" Corneei," it is evident that the commodore could not rely upon 
him, as the successor, to properly handle his enormous fortune, 
and he was finally forced to fall back upon his eldest son as his 
only reliance ; and the result has proved, what a great many of the 
friends of the family always suspected, that William possessed far 
more ability than his father had ever given him credit for. In 
fact, William H. never had any fair opportunity to show his 
capacity as a financier in his early life. He was peculiarly circum- 
stanced. Had his father been a man of only moderate wealth, his 
son would undoubtedly have burst away from the repressive con- 
trol and influence which surrounded him. But no man could 
afford to throw away his chances of becoming heir to $100,000,- 
000, and hence prudence kept him for so many good years of his life 
in the passive attitude of a prince, one day destined for a throne, but 
excluded by the ruling sovereign from any participation in the con- 
trol of affairs. But at last the hour of recognition came. About 
1870 the commodore began to realize the possible merits of the 
son whom he had kept so long in abeyance, and gradually began 
to initiate him into his own business moves, and to give him 
"points" by which he could profit in the stock market. It must, 
we think, have awakened some compunctious thoughts in the mind 
of the old gentleman when he saw with what shrewdness and 
quickness of appreciation his long-neglected heir took to the 
"street" and held his own against powerful rivals and experienced 
veterans in the financial struggles of the stock exchange. It was 
not long after his introduction to Wall street that he left Staten 
Island and took up his permanent residence in New York. 



WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT. 299 

Since the death of the commodore, and the accumulation of all 
his vast business interests in the hands of the present chief repre- 
sentative of the family, Mr. Vanderbilt's main care has been to 
preserve them. For his own comfort he does not care to add to 
his wealth ; but this often seems imperative. To prevent the 
undermining of his principal railroads he Jias had to get control 
of others, which are " feeders " to the Central, and which, like the 
so-called " Nickel-Plate," would, if left in other hands, become 
inimical to his interests, instead of helpful. But his recent opera- 
tions, particularly in the Southwest, belong to the current news of 
the day and need no repetition here. But we have it on the best 
authority that since his father's decease, what, with accrued income 
and property added, there has been an immense increase to this 
almost fabulous fortune. It is estimated that he will be a billionaire 
at the close of the present century. At the lowest figures, his 
fortune is now put at $280,000,000, or $200,000,000 more than it 
was seven years ago. Property, over a certain point, accumulates 
fast, and it is not improbable Vanderbilt will realize the predictions 
of those who make his progress a study. Enormous as the sum 
is, Mr. Vanderbilt does not probably enjoy life more fully than tens 
of thousands of his countrymen who reckon by hundreds where 
he counts by millions. So vast a property must become a burden 
to be carried, but not enjoyed. 

There is one particular in which Mr. William H. Vanderbilt 
strongly resembles his father, and that is in his appreciation of a 
good horse. He has owned for years many of the best trotters 
in the country, and probably never enjoys himself better than when 
speeding some favorite team on the road, such as Maud S. and 
her mate. But he is not a betting man, and never allows his 
horses to be trotted for money. He is absolutely indifferent as to 
the price he pays for an animal he covets. His stables are fitted 
up with every known improvement for the health and comfort of 
his equine pets ; indeed their quarters are almost as luxurious as 
many fashionable dwellings. He is a good liver, and it is said 



3oo 



WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT. 



pays $7,000 a year to his head cook. The time has not yet come 
for Mr. Vanderbilt to make his grand bequests, such as some of 
our wealthy men delight to make in their lifetime, that they may 
enjoy the sight of the happiness they are the means of diffusing; 
but he has not forgotten his old home in New Dorp, and, among 
other gifts in that community, and especially to the Moravian 
Church there, he has added the present of a new, beautiful and 
commodious parsonage for the pastor. He has also made hand- 
some additions to the already well-endowed " Vanderbilt Univer- 
sity," founded by his father, in Tennessee, and in many ways not 
made public. 

Of the five magnificent houses, built by Mr. Vanderbilt and his 
two sons, to which reference has been made, the most important 
of the group is that of Mr. Vanderbilt, both in respect of dimen- 
sions and of general design. The adjoining houses are united 
by a common vestibule. 

The entrance to Mr. William H. Vanderbilt' s house is guarded 
by admirable copies in bronze of Ghiberti's " Gates of Paradise," 
made by Barbedienne, at a cost of $25,000. The entrance-hall, 
drawing-rooms, library, picture-gallery, conservatory and dining- 
room, all of stately dimensions, would prove interesting reading, 
did but space admit of detailed descriptions. The picture-gallery 
is of greater interest to the general public than any other feature 
of the mansion, and its contents are likely to be well known to 
New Yorkers for a great many years to come. 

Mr. William H. Vanderbilt has a family of four sons and as 
many daughters. The two eldest sons, Cornelius and William K., 
are wealthy in their own right, and their residences rate second in 
the city of New York only to that of their father. The combined 
mansions of the Vanderbilt family are an ornament and credit to 
the city. Mr. William K.'s residence is on the block above his 
father's, on the corner of Fifty-first street and Fifth avenue ; that 
of Cornelius is on the corner of the same avenue and Fifty-seventh 
street. Both of these sons are in active business, and have proved 
themselves astute financiers. 



WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT. 301 

Mr. Cornelius, the eldest son of Mr. William H., is perhaps the 
most popular of the family, if not the acutest business man. 
Neither he nor his wife are considered "airish." He is Superin- 
tendent of the Trinity Chapel Sunday-school, and is very genial in 
manner. He is also a member of the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation. 

It was at the residence of William K. Vanderbilt, which is at 
the corner of Fifty-second street and Fifth avenue, that the " great 
Easter Ball" (in costume) was given, in the winter of 1883, at a 
cost of $50,000. The style of the entertainment, the value of the 
costumes worn, and the excitement it created among society peo- 
ple in the city were unprecedented. 

Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt is a Southern lady, a recognized 
leader of fashion in the city. It has been noticed that not only 
does her coiffeur frequently sparkle with diamonds, but also the 
buckles on her slippers. Invitations to her receptions are much 
sought after ; some persons so far forgetting their self-respect as 
to solicit them. But this lady is also very benevolent. One of her 
pet objects of charity is the " Seaside Home " for poor and invalid 
children. Mrs. Vanderbilt gave several acres of land at Islip, L. I., 
and also the house used for the accommodation of the children. 
She has also organized concerts and other entertainments for the 
benefit of this association. 

Beside these two sons, who are competent, to a great extent, to 
overlook the railroad management which their grandfather first 
undertook, there are two more, Fred and George, who, beside 
being younger, are also less stable and cautious than their broth- 
ers. The former married the divorced wife of his cousin a few 
years since, an escapade which greatly troubled his parents. As 
he had the sum of $2,000,000 left him by his grandfather, it is sup- 
posed that he felt able to marry, but his father has taken the young 
people home to live with him. George has attained his majority 
only recently, and is yet unmarried. Of the four daughters, the 
eldest, Mrs. Elliot Shepherd, and the second, Mrs. Sloane, with their 



302 WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT. 

respective families, occupy the double house built by their father, 
William H. Vanderbilt, on the lot adjoining his own home. These 
have been already described. The third daughter, Mrs. Twomb- 
ley, is building a house just above her father on Fifth avenue ; and 
the youngest, Mrs. Seward Webb, is making plans to have a resi- 
dence very near them all. Dr. and Mrs. Webb are still at the 
paternal mansion, which is large enough to hold all the posterity 
which may gather around the expansive hearth-stone. They are 
a pleasant, cheerful, affectionate family, and have a good, sensible, 
plain mother, with no affectations and few weaknesses. 



COLONEL E. L. DRAKE. 

Among the benefactors of mankind may very properly be placed 
the name of Colonel Drake, the first man to unloose, by the simple 
process of boring, the apparently inexhaustible treasures of the 
oleaginous sand-tract of Pennsylvania. That the earth contained 
oil has been known forages; and it seems not improbable that 
the great dramatic poet of Uz — the Job of the Hebrews — had been 
an operator in oil-wells ; what else may be the meaning of his 
lament : " O that I were as in months past, when the rock poured 
me out rivers of oil ; " surely his well had " gone dry," and helped 
to bankrupt him ! Though it is well known that petroleum oil is 
found in other parts of the earth, yet no deposit has been discov- 
ered in any way equal in quantity and value to the oil-wells of 
Pennsylvania. 

The medicinal virtues of the oil, especially for outward applica- 
tions, for sprains, rheumatic and other ills, had been known to the 
Indians who, in their primitive way, extracted the oil which floated 
on the surface of the Allegheny and other streams at certain sea- 
sons of the year, by dipping their blankets in the stream, and 
wringing out the oil. The first white settlers in Northwestern 
Pennsylvania, and certain other sections of the country in Ohio and 
New York, learned its use from the aborigines, and many are still 
living who will remember a famous "Seneca Oil" which was sold 
as a universal cure-all many years ago, and which was nothing else 
than this petroleum oil put up in bottles, and labelled as a great 
discovery. It was also the base of a famous veterinary remedy, 
which had its day, and a very profitable day too, under the name 
of " Mustang Liniment." Neither were its illuminating qualities 
altogether unknown. More than fifty years ago the American 

(303) 



304 COLONEL E. L. DRAKE. 

Journal of Science (for the year 1826) published a communication 
of a Dr. Hildreth, in which he speaks of a man digging a well and 
being astounded by a sudden flow of oil ; which oil, he added, was 
coming into use for lighting workshops and factories ; and the 
writer expressed the opinion that it would yet be used for street 
illumination ; this was written of the Muskingum district in Ohio, 
but the flow probably subsided, for no extended use appears to 
have been made of it. 

As with all other useful discoveries, various claimants arise to 
share or dim the honors of the real practical discoverer. In fact, 
sometimes the same invention or discovery is made simultaneously 
by two or more persons. In regard to petroleum, the only con- 
flicting facts are these : As to priority of time, Colonel A. C. Fer- 
ris, of New York, claims to have introduced into the city the first 
petroleum for illuminating purposes, which he established as a 
business in November, 1857; but this petroleum, it will be ob- 
served, was obtained exclusively from salt-wells already existing in 
Pennsylvania. In many of these salt-wells oil had freely appeared, 
and until utilized by Colonel Ferris, had run to waste and was lost, 
except small quantities which had been preserved for medical pur- 
poses. The whole amount obtained from these salt mines did not 
exceed three or four thousand barrels a year; but, in 1859, Colonel 
Drake bored especially for oil on the Watson Flat, near Oil creek, 
and was thus the actual pioneer of the oil business, as developed 
since that time, and which has assumed proportions third only in 
the great exporting products of the country. 

Before his connection with the famous oil-wells, Colonel Drake 
had been employed as a conductor on the New York and New 
Haven Railroad ; he was smart and shrewd — just the person to 
make good use of an unexpected opportunity, and his chance came 
in this way: A firm had existed in New York for some years, 
under the name of Evelith & Bissell, who had been receiving from 
the vicinity of Titusville about a gallon of petroleum oil a day ; 
they owned one spring, which they eventually passed as assets in 



COLONEL E. L. DRAKE. 3°5 

payment of debt to certain parties in New Haven, Conneqticut ; 
these parties formed a company, and employed Colonel Drake to 
go out to Pennsylvania, and see what the property was worth, and 
what, if anything, could be made out of the well ; he was the right 
man for such an enterprise. He came to Titusville, surveyed all- 
the land about that region, and soon made up his mind that "there 
was a good deal more in Seneca oil than its proprietors ever 
dreamed of, or Mustang Liniment ever claimed." In fact, he "saw 
millions in it." He believed that by digging or boring far enough, 
unlimited supplies of oil might be obtained. At that time he and 
others thought that there existed in the earth streams or pockets 
of oil, much as water is found to exist in springs or subterranean 
rivers ; this theory, however, was exploded by careful geological 
and topographical surveys, which have proven that the oil is really 
contained in beds or strata of sand, and that, in connection with it, 
is an explosive gas, which finds vent when the bore reaches a cer- 
tain depth, which the pumping process aids. After the first outflow 
of gas and oil, the pump may succeed in raising a supply for 
weeks or months ; or, the oil may cease to flow after the first pres- 
sure has been relieved. Nor has there any rule or any signs yet 
been discovered, by which it can be foreseen which wells will con- 
tinue to give a permanent supply, or which will subside in a few 
days or weeks. 

When Colonel Drake first commenced to sink a well on Wat- 
son's Flat, about a mile south of Titusville, the people in the 
vicinity looked upon him as a harmless monomaniac, with more 
money than brains ; and so silly did they think the project, that he 
could scarcely even hire men to do the digging, but finally he 
induced a man who had been accustomed to bore for salt to assist 
him, and he brought his two sons into the work. They had no 
faith in any good result, but thought they might as well profit by 
his lunacy as any one else. After many difficulties, Colonel Drake 
rigged a derrick, and on the 28th of August, 1859, after boring only 
sixty-nine and a half feet, he " struck oil." The three men had left 
20 



306 COLONEL E. L. DRAKE. 

work /the evening previous without having any idea of success ; 
but <6n coming to work in the morning of the eventful day found 
thef hole which they had excavated filled with oil. It took but a 
few minutes to dip out a barrel full, and but a few more hours for 
the news to run like wildfire over Crawford and Warren counties, 
and from thence over the whole country. 

No sooner was the news authenticated than floods of specula- 
tors covered the region with workmen, digging wells ; land was 
bought at fabulous prices, and some farmers refused to sell at al- 
most any price ; derricks arose in the air, as if they had been 
natural crops of the soil ; and the whole vicinity of Titusville was 
honey-combed with wells, and then prospectors moved to other 
districts in search of oil. At first only valley sites were thought 
to be worth working, but as the excitement and the market value 
rose, it was soon reasoned out, that the side of a hill or even the 
summit, if not too high, was available; the oil-sand lay imbedded 
at a certain distance below the surface of the valley, but quite as 
likely under the hill as under the lower level ; hence it was only 
to dig the extra distance through the elevated ground to be as 
sure of reaching it as from the depths of a gulch — of course it cost 
more, but what was a few score feet of earth or a few hundred 
dollars when the prize was so rich and buyers of stock so en- 
thusiastic ! 

Every one was not so fortunate as Colonel Drake in striking 
oil at less than seventy feet below the surface. In the Oil Creek 
region the delvers had frequently six hundred feet of soil to 
penetrate before their eyes were gladdened with a sight of the 
oleaginous fluid. In the widely extended Bradford district from 
a thousand to two thousand feet was the average range ; and in 
the famous Cherry Grove field the depth varied from nine hun- 
dred to sixteen hundred feet. The yield was as varied as the 
labor of obtaining it ; it would often happen that a well would roll* 
out thousands of gallons a day when isolated, but on other wells 
being sunk in the vicinity the yield would gradually decrease, 



COLONEL E. L. DRAKE. 2>°7 ' 

perhaps the whole would be drawn off by the new-comers; but the 
increase in the general yield, by the immense number of wells 
opened in various parts of the oil regions, was something enor- 
mous. During Colonel Drake's first year his well yielded only 
some two thousand barrels. The next year new operators had 
drawn from the same region half a million barrels. In 1861 
there were two millions one hundred and thirteen thousand six 
hundred and nine barrels produced. The next year it had risen 
to between three and four million barrels, then the yield slackened 
and new fields were sought out. Of the most prolific of these 
was the Tidioute district (in which was the famous Pithole well), 
and several sites in Butler, Clarion and Venango counties. It was 
not until 1875 that the remarkable Bradford district was opened 
up. This lies farther to the north and east in the State of Pennsyl- 
vania than what is known as the original oil region, and a portion 
of the district extends over the line into southern New York, in 
Cattaraugus county, and from this section alone was drawn in 
1880 the almost incredible amount of 22,000,000 barrels! 

From 1859 onward there have been successive furores, booms 
and panics over oil wells and oil-stocks, but while it lasted the 
" Cherry Grove " excitement exceeded all others, and " 646 " built 
up and destroyed probably more fortunes than any other well 
which was ever worked. The site was in Warren county, Penn- 
sylvania, and the discovery was made in a locality called Cherry 
Grove by a party of " wild-catters " in 1882. " Wild-catters " are 
simply men who go about prospecting, taking their chance, sink- 
ing a well here and there at hazard. In fact, there seems no sur- 
face indication as to the probable presence of oil, and pioneers 
must either buy wells already opened or "take their chances," since 
science refuses to come to their aid. These " wild-catters " were 
indeed in luck ; the Cherry Grove well began its flow with four 
thousand barrels a day — twice as much as Colonel Drake procured 
for the first twelve months he operated in Titusville. It was on 
the 17th of May, 1882, when "646" burst forth with its appar- 



308 COLONEL E. L. DRAKE. 

ently exhaustless stream of wealth, and in less than a month two 
good-sized towns had sprung up in the wilderness beside it. The 
townships of Garfield and Farnsworth still remain, a testimony to 
the attractive influence of the Cherry Grove wells. At the end 
of three months the region about " 646" was yielding forty thousand 
barrels a day ; but that was its maximum ; since then the decline 
has been gradual but continuous. The mysterious number, "646," 
so often quoted at the petroleum exchange, was given to this most 
prolific well, simply because it was upon a section of ground thus 
numbered by a surveyor of the district. 

No substance has ever been dealt in that is of so entirely a 
speculative nature as petroleum. If ever there were " fancy stocks," 
these take the lead ; copper, lead, silver and £old mines have 
figured in that line, but an earnest investigator may always learn 
something of their real value, or lack of value ; with oil it is dif- 
ferent; a well may be running finely to-day and cease to run to- 
morrow, or the supply may be short and the price suddenly goes 
up ; those who hold it feel very rich ; but the news comes that a 
new well is opened up, perhaps a typical " 646," and is pouring 
out its thousands of gallons per day ; down falls the stock, and 
those who do not hedge very lively are caught and ruined. As a 
specimen of the differences in prices we recall an incident which 
occurred before the "United Pipes Line Company" (controlled by 
the Standard Oil Company) was organized. Owners of wells had 
been in the habit of floating their barrels down the river to near a 
railroad station ; one night the river suddenly froze and that style 
of exportation was stopped ; but one more energetic than the rest 
quietly hired a gang of laborers to cut a narrow channel for a 
certain distance, got his oil afloat, reached a railroad station, 
shipped his oil to New York, and obtained for it thirteen dollars a 
barrel, the market being short. A few days later there came a 
thaw, when all the operators in the oil regions set their petroleum 
afloat on the Allegheny and other streams ; the market was flooded; 
prices broke under the pressure, and the late comers had to sell 
at ninety cents a barrel. 



COLONEL E. L. DRAKE. S°9 

We have spoken of Colonel Drake as a benefactor of the hu- 
man race, and such he may truly be considered, in view of the 
many important results which have accrued to the mercantile 
world, and the community in general, from the introduction of 
petroleum. Merchants may know, but the general reader does 
not, that there are nearly a dozen articles of great commercial 
value derived from this substance, among which are naphtha, par- 
affine, kerosene, gasoline, all used in various arts and manufac- 
tures, and from the residuum is chemically obtained those beautiful 
aniline dyes, the value of which all can appreciate. But its money 
value in commerce, under its various forms, is of comparatively 
small consequence, in comparison to its value as a civilizer, and 
friend of intellectual culture. To those who live in cities this is 
not so apparent, but to the thousands, yes, millions of people 
scattered over both hemispheres, who live beyond the precincts of 
gas-light, petroleum has been a boon indeed. Between the disap- 
pearance of whale-oil and the use of candles, half the world has 
lived through its evenings unlighted, or but half illuminated, until 
the introduction of kerosene, or some of petroleum, has enabled 
them to have a cheap and bright light, than which nothing is more 
conducive to family comfort. Writers praise the printing-press 
as a great civilizer, but to people who have only a tallow dip or a 
pitch pine knot to light the common sitting-room, the printed page 
can scarcely become the enlightener of mind, the cultivator of 
thought which it is described as being ; even the newspapers will 
find few readers who are obliged to put up with an inefficient 
light, while the bright clear lamplight, which petroleum has made 
possible for all classes, is a true civilizer by the aid it renders the 
poor student ; when the evening lamp is lit it says to the young 
people, as plainly almost as if the words were spoken, " Come, 
bring your books and sit down by me ; read, study, look at the pic- 
tures, brighten up your minds, as I brighten up your counte- 
nances ; " and, responding to this cheerful invitation, that twin civil- 
izer, the press, is able to accomplish its refining work in the 



3IO COLONEL E. L. DRAKE. 

poorest log-cabin. Is not the man a benefactor who has made 
this luxury possible to the poorest home? 

Colonel Drake continued for several years his operations in the 
oil regions with various success : at one time he was in possession 
of a large fortune which by sudden reverses he lost, but which he 
would soon have retrieved had not his constant labor and expos- 
ure so undermined his health that he was unable to oversee his 
own interests as heretofore. After 1864, though he did a little 
now and then, he was practically out of the race for the big prizes, 
and he eventually abandoned the oil fields. But more fortunate 
than some, whom ill-health has thus overthrown, the generous 
State of Pennsylvania came to his aid. In 1873 her legislators, 
mindful of the enormous wealth he had developed out of her wild, 
almost valueless lands, bestowed upon him a pension of $ 1,500 per 
annum as a slight token of their appreciation of the benefits he 
had conferred upon Pennsylvania and the world. This pension 
reverted to his wife on his death. Colonel Drake settled in New 
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he lived until 1881, but was a 
confirmed invalid for the last eight years of his life. It cannot be 
said of him as of some others, " the evil men do in their lifetime 
lives after them, but the good is oft interred with their bones." 
The reverse has been Colonel Drake's happy fate. We know of 
no evil that he ever did ; but the good is not to be interred with 
his bones, for his many friends, and those who have profited by his 
discovery, intend to erect at Titusville, on the New Oil Exchange, 
a life-size statue to his memory : " The Drake Monument Fund " 
being heartily endorsed by his magnanimous early rival, Colonel 
A. C. Ferris. 



HENRY VILLARD. 

In the summer of 1853 a tall, dark-complexioned lad, with 
brown hair and bright black eyes, formed one of a large number 
of emigrants who had left the old German " vaterland " to try 
their fortunes in the new world. This young man was called by 
his countrymen Heinrich Hilgard. He was of a good family from 
the old imperial city of Speyer on the Rhine ; his father was for 
many years in the civil service of Bavaria, and in later life a judge 
of the district court of Zweibrucken, where Heinrich spent most 
of his childhood ; he received a good education, passing succes- 
sively through the elementary and Latin schools of Speyer, the 
French college at Palfzbourg Lorrain, graduating at the gymna- 
sium of his native place at the age of eighteen in 1852. While 
pursuing his studies young Hilgard often thought of the great land 
in the West, to which several members of his father's family had 
emigrated years before, settling in St. Louis and Belleville, Illinois; 
he decided, when his books could be laid aside, to follow the course 
of his out-wandering relatives, and seek his life's pursuit in the 
United States, where his friends were all in a prosperous condi- 
tion: one of his uncles being Prof. Julius Hilgard, of the United 
States Coast Survey ; another, Robert Hilgard, being an officer in 
the savings bank at Belleville, Illinois. Instead, however, of going 
directly West Heinrich remained in New York for about a year, 
and then joined his uncle Robert in Illinois, but did not remain 
there long, feeling the place too small for his ambitions. While 
in Belleville, however, he began to write for the local papers, and 
his contributions being readily accepted he soon sought to dispose 
of them in a larger market, and began writing descriptions of the 
West for a German-American paper published in New York ; but 

(311) 



3 I 2 HENRY VILLARD. 

Heinrich Hilgard was a young man of brains, who reflected as 
well as acted, and it did not take him long to come to the conclu- 
sion that if he would make the most of his journalistic talents he 
must so thoroughly conquer the English as to be able to write in 
that language. 

In Belleville, also, the Germans were so numerous that it was 
difficult to get sufficient practice in English conversation, and he 
removed to Peoria, with the intention of studying law, but the 
native impulse to write was too strong for him ; he relapsed into 
journalism after a few months, going to Chicago, where better 
opportunities offered. In his travels about the State he fortunately 
met the editor of the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley, being 
then on his trip to Pike's Peak and California, and the latter en- 
gaged him to follow up the political campaign (in the summer of 
1858), and particularly to report the discussions and speeches of 
Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Following this task 
to the end of the fall, he then proceeded to Indianapolis to report 
the proceedings of the legislature. At this period, having travelled 
in company with the two principal speakers of the campaign, he 
had become well acquainted with Mr. Lincoln, and was invited by 
the latter to accompany him on his journey to Washington after 
his election to the Presidency, which he did ; in the interim, how- 
ever, going to Colorado, in 1859, to write up the new gold mines 
for the Cincinnati Commercial. He was one of the passengers in the 
first regular stage ever run across the plains from Leavenworth to 
Denver. Part of his explorations in Colorado were made in the 
company of Horace Greeley and the late Albert D. Richardson. 
Having experienced some very rough and dangerous adventures 
in the winter travel through eastern Kansas, he next appears as a 
reporter at the National Convention at Chicago which nominated 
Abraham Lincoln in the summer of i860. Still busy with his pen, 
we next find him writing a series of letters to the New York 
Hei'ald on the traffic of the plains between Mexico and Colorado. 

At this time political excitement ran high; the South was 



HENRY VILLARD. 313 

threatening; the business men of the North, especially the mer- 
chants, were anxious ; the timid wavering ; the Free-Soilers and 
Abolitionists firm and defiant. Mr. Hudson, then managing-editor 
of the Herald, engaged his Western correspondent, " Villard" to 
go to Springfield, Illinois, to watch Lincoln and the politicians 
there, get at the inside movements for favoring the new cabinet, 
etc. By this continued use of the nom de plume of Villard, by 
which Mr. Hilgard was recognized from New York to the Rocky 
Mountains, it gradually became so much a part of himself that it 
seemed superfluous to bear any other, and thus the German name 
of Heinrich Hilgard was exchanged for that of Henry Villard. 
During the war he continued to act as correspondent for one or 
more papers. 

On January 3d, 1866, Mr. Villard married Miss Fanny, the 
accomplished daughter of the noted abolitionist, William Lloyd 
Garrison, of Boston. In July of the same year he went to Europe 
to write up for the Chicago Tribune the Austro-Prussian war, but 
it was ended before he reached there. He afterwards visited 
Switzerland, Paris and England, in the latter interviewing the late 
John Stuart Mill in the interest of his Chicago paper. Then fol- 
lowed a trip to Italy, Avignon, Vesuvius, etc. ; then back again to 
the United States; in 1870 returning to Europe to report the 
Franco-Prussian war of 1870, arriving on his return in this country 
in February, 18 71, and in April once more crossing the Atlantic. 
This time he remained abroad four years, not exclusively engaged 
with newspaper correspondence. 

From 1870 to 1873 a large quantity of American railroad securi- 
ties had been sold in Germany, and, during Mr. Villard's residence 
at Wiesbaden, he negotiated a large number of these, which led to 
his acquaintance with many of the bankers of Frankfort and 
Berlin. After the financial panic of 1873, and the failure of many 
of the American railway companies to pay the interest on their 
bonds, committees were organized in financial centres of Germany 
to protect the interests of the bondholders there. Mr. Villard was 



3 1 4 HENRY VILLARD. 

asked to assist them by his knowledge of the country and the 
mode of conducting business here ; his perfect command of the 
language, his wide acquaintance with leading men in the United 
States, and his professional connection with the press made him 
one of the best agents they could possibly have selected to aid 
them in securing their claims ; and it was in the interest of these 
bondholders that he came back from Europe in April, 1874. An 
agent of the Oregon & California Railroad had been to Frankfort 
and proposed a compromise settlement with the bondholders 
there ; but this company had made default on its first mortgage 
bonds in the summer of 1873, and it was to close the proposed 
contract that these victims desired Mr. Villard to act for them in 
Oregon. 

This may be taken as the first stepping-stone which eventually 
led to the presidential chair of the great transcontinental railway 
recently completed. Going west, he had the opportunity of learn- 
ing the condition of many railways, and the country through which 
they passed. 

In 1875 Mr. Villard was appointed Receiver of the Kansas 
Pacific Railroad, he representing also in this case a committee of 
Frankfort bondholders, while Mr. C. L. Greeley, of St. Louis, 
represented the American creditors ; but a disagreement having 
arisen between the two receivers in 1878 the court which had 
appointed Mr. Greeley removed him. The old board of directors 
were anxious that an alliance should be made with the Union 
Pacific, then largely under the control of Jay Gould. This move- 
ment Mr. Villard tried in vain to resist, and the Kansas Pacific 
was soon in danger of being utterly absorbed by the stronger 
company ; but he stood up bravely for the interests of the German 
bondholders, who were in danger of being utterly sacrificed, and 
he appealed to the courts, and then he was again confirmed as 
sole receiver. The bonds, which had been as low as forty, soon 
after rose to above par, which greatly added to the eclat which his 
successful litigation had secured him. 



HENRY VILLARD. 3 I 5 

At the end of this legal fight, Mr. Villard's ambition took a very 
definite form, and this was to create a great northern rival to the 
Union and Central Pacific roads ; and the means which he saw 
was necessary to accomplish this was to unite all the Northern 
transportation lines, whether railways or steamship lines, under 
one control ; he, naturally, to become the autocrat of this new 
empire. Not very much was accomplished in this direction until 
1879, when new iron steamers replaced the old worn-out boats of 
the Oregon line, and the Oregon and California Railroad was 
somewhat extended. But hardly had this been done, when oppo- 
sition boats were run, and the rates had consequently to be cut 
down. The European bondholders were discouraged, and some 
of Mr. Villard's German friends strongly urged him to make a new 
effort to dispose of bonds in the United States. This he suc- 
ceeded in doing by making up a syndicate, mainly among his per- 
sonal friends, to buy out the new steamship company. The next 
and most pressing need was to make the long-delayed direct rail- 
road communication with the East. The transportation through 
the Columbia valley at this time was in the hands and completely un- 
der the control of the "Oregon Steam Navigation Company." Mr. 
Villard was exceedingly anxious to get control of this river navi- 
gation. He travelled through the whole of the country traversed 
by these boats, and beyond, through the Walla Walla region, and 
being thoroughly satisfied that this river traffic was an indispen- 
sable feeder to the future success of the Northern Pacific Railroad, he 
entered into negotiations with Captain Ainsworth, and succeeded 
in buying up all the boats on the Columbia. He had six months 
in which to conclude the payments on this purchase, $2,000,000 of 
which must be in cash. Mr. Villard naturally turned to New York 
as the money-centre of the country; he sought out the Union 
Pacific men, offering them half the stock of the Oregon Steam 
Navigation Company, and of his proposed new company, " The 
Oregon Railway and Navigation Company." His object was to 
consolidate the Oregon Steamship Navigation Company with the 
Oregon Steamship Company, which he had previously bought. 



$1 6 HENRY VILLARD. 

In three weeks he raised the $2,000,000, organized the new 
company (the "Oregon Railway and Navigation Company"), 
which was incorporated June 13th, 1879, and under its charter is- 
sued $6,000,000 of bonds, and $6,000,000 of stock. He was of 
course elected president of this new company. He sailed for 
Europe on the 10th of July, no doubt intending to place considera- 
ble stock among his German friends ; and on his return in Novem- 
ber was met with the pleasant announcement that the stock of the 
new company had reached ninety-five. This company has a rec- 
ord of remarkable prosperity. Commencing under the Villard 
regime four years ago, with net earnings of about $75,000 per 
annum, it now approximates to $300,000 per annum. But it 
ought to be earning something. Some $20,000,000 of actual 
money has been expended in perfecting the connections, building 
five hundred miles of standard gauge road, and in the purchase of 
collateral property. It is claimed by the historian of this company, 
that it is the only railroad and navigation company in the United 
States, which, since its first issue of bonds, has never come into 
the market to borrow a dollar, but has raised all its capital by sell- 
ing its stock at par. 

One cause of Mr. Villard's success in these large operations, and 
others which followed, is undoubtedly to be attributed to the care 
he took to avoid a collision of interests where other roads were 
concerned, acquiring what he arrived at by friendly negotiation, 
if possible, rather than exciting a disastrous rivalry by openly de- 
fiant competition. Thus, in the spring of 1880, he sought several 
conferences with the officers of the Northern Pacific road, of which 
Mr. Billings was then president. In this road he desired to obtain 
a controlling influence, by furnishing to it the funds to complete 
its construction, and the proposition was made to him, that he 
should form a syndicate of his European and American friends to 
raise the needed money, by giving first mortgage bonds on the 
Northern Pacific. The inducement to the Northern Pacific was an 
independent outlet either on the north bank of the Columbia, or 



HENRY VILLARD. $IJ 

by the Cascade branch to the Pacific ocean. President Billings did 
not fall in very readily with the idea of making a unity of interest 
between the Northern Pacific and Mr. Villard's Railway and Navi- 
gation Company ; although the latter thought he could raise from 
$10,000,000 to $20,000,000 among his friends as a construction 
fund. Baffled in his direct negotiations with President Billings, he 
was not defeated. There was money enough in Wall street, he 
knew that ; how to get hold of it was the problem. A new idea 
struck him. He would form a * blind pool," that would be likely 
to draw ; but first he must secure in his own hands a controlling 
quantity of the stock of both the Northern Pacific Railroad and the 
Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company at reasonable rates, 
which he could not hope to do, if his consolidation scheme was 
bruited abroad. Concealing his hand through trusty agents, he 
took out of the market large lines of both these stocks, using all 
his private means and credit for the purpose, during several weeks 
in December, 1880, and January, 1881. Having laid this founda- 
tion, he then issued a private circular addressed to some fifty of 
his financial friends, asking them to subscribe towards a fund of 
$8,000,000, to which he would contribute largely himself, giving 
no other explanation of what use it was to be applied to, than the 
vague statement, that it was " to lay the foundation of an enter- 
prise," to be divulged hereafter. More than a dozen signatures 
for large sums were subscribed to this blind object before the circu- 
lar had even reached some to whom it was addressed ; and as soon 
as it became known that such a paper was in existence, there com- 
menced a rush for the chance to subscribe. The halo of mystery 
which surrounded the project appeared to attract the speculators ; 
in less than twenty-four hours double the amount of money was 
offered that had been called for. The plan had proved more than 
a success, it was a triumph. When a division of the shares was 
made, the allotments proved most unsatisfactory, each one think- 
ing he had not enough, and wanted more ; some very angry pro- 
tests were made, and subscriptions sold were at a premium, com- 



3*8 HENRY VILLARD. 

mencing at twenty-five per cent, and running up to fifty, in some 
instances even more. The money subscribed was to be paid in 
three instalments, between February 15th and April 2d. To add 
to the wonder, all this furore to get rid of money took place under 
the condition of a very stringent money market. 

It was not until the 24th of June, 1881, that any of these people 
knew what they had paid their money for ; on that day a meeting 
of the subscribers was held in Mr. Villard's office, when, for the 
first time, he declared the object of the fund; namely, the consoli- 
dation of all the transportation interests between the head of Lake 
Superior and Puget Sound. The explanation was well received, 
and a call for $12,000,000 more immediately responded to; the 
conditions being seven payments between July 6th, 1881, and April 
1st, 1882, making a total raised by Mr. Villard of J 20,000,000. At 
the close of this meeting a new company was organized, embracing 
all the objects considered under the name of the " Oregon and 
Trans-Continental Company." 

Following this action Mr. Villard asked of the Northern Pacific 

<z> 

Railroad Company a representation in the board of direction ; this 
alarmed President Billings, who evidently considered it the enter- 
ing wedge to the attainment of ultimate control of the road, and 
thereupon began to divide the undistributed stock among the old 
stockholders ; upon learning this Mr. Villard procured an injunc- 
tion ; some other litigation followed, occupying several weeks, 
when a compromise was effected : two directors and a vice-presi- 
dent being appointed from among Mr. Villard's friends, and sub- 
sequently, at a meeting of the stockholders of the Northern Pa- 
cific Railroad, held on September 15, 1881, under the new board, 
Henry Villard was elected President. From that time forward all 
his efforts have been directed to the completion of the main road, 
and the acquirement of all the feeders to it which could possibly 
be secured. 

" One sows and another reaps." Jay Cooke's grand project of 
creating a trans-continental highway over land and water from the 



HENRY VILLARD. 319 

gulf of St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Columbia was happily 
consummated during the summer of 1883 under the presidency of 
Mr. Villard. Work was practically finished by the union of the rails 
on the 2 2d of August; but, in anticipation of this event, the presi- 
dent had invited a large number of persons from Germany, Eng- 
land, and various parts of the United States, with a corps of fifty 
reporters of the leading newspapers, to be present at a public 
ceremony of " driving the last spike " — a golden one — as well as to 
travel over the road, partaking of a great banquet at St. Paul's, 
Minnesota, and other entertainments connected with the trip. At 
the grand dinner, on this occasion, covers were laid for six hundred 
and twenty-five persons. The celebration was a grand gala-day 
for St. Paul's and the neighboring city of Minneapolis ; decorations, 
processions, flags, salvos of artillery, the presence of President 
Arthur, and perfect weather, all combined to make the occasion 
one to be long remembered by those who participated in the fes- 
tivities : the ceremony of driving the golden spike took place on 
the 8 th of September, the precise point being a few miles west of 
Mullan Tunnel, called Gold Creek, on the western slope of the 
main divide of the Rocky Mountains. 

The audience numbered at least three thousand persons, one 
evidence that the country is not exactly a wilderness, over two 
thousand of those present being settlers on the line of the road. 
All the visitors who had spoken have expressed their opinion that 
there is a ereat future for the Northern Pacific road. Thus has 
Mr. Villard the great satisfaction of seeing the object of his life 
happily accomplished. His mode of celebrating the event was as 
unique as expensive : the cost of bringing so many guests from 
Europe (about seventy), entertaining them for weeks, and return- 
ing them to their homes, is a new departure in the way of cele- 
brating a completed railroad. 

Mr. Villard was of course the central figure in all this lengthened 
jubilation. The community at St. Paul's, and its twin sister Min- 
neapolis, could scarcely devise ways enough by which to show 



320 HENRY VILLARD. 

their joy at the completion of the road and their gratitude to Mr. 
Villard. 

Within a comparatively short time after this event, Mr. Villard 
failed through the decline of Northern Pacific stock, and retired 
from the presidency of the road. His failure was a disastrous 
one, compelling the relinquishment of all his property, including 
his costly city residence in New York, not entirely completed at 
the time. That he will retrieve his fortunes and again become a 
magnate of Wall street is not doubted by those who know the 
resources of the man. 




FRANK LESLIE. 



FRANK LESLIE. 

Of the numerous men who have accumulated large fortunes, 
and who may have been locally eminent in social and other 
spheres, whom we have brought together in this volume, probably 
not one of them has been known to so many persons, in all 
classes of society, as Frank Leslie. Other men have been familiar 
figures in Wall street, in church circles, among art connoisseurs, 
in mining and railroad interests, and other specialties of our social 
organization ; but who, like Frank Leslie, came to see us every 
week, with pleasant pictures and kindly words? who provided 
each member of the family with some periodical just suited to the 
taste, and for whom did the children look with anxious eyes when 
the Boys and Girls Weekly was due, or the Chatterbox was about 
to make its appearance ? Frank Leslie's name was a household 
word in hundreds of thousands of homes, not only in this country, 
but almost as much so in England and Germany — and indeed, as 
an artist, throughout the civilized world ; and we may say beyond, 
for numbers of his illustrated newspaper have been carried from 
the Arctic to the Tropics ; have amazed the denizens of Africa, 
and excited the wonder of Indian tribes from the Ganges to the 
Amazon, wherever travellers have dropped a copy in their wan- 
derings. Certainly there are few people in the United States who 
did not express word of regret when the news was flashed over 
the wires that the active brain and skillful hand of Frank Leslie 
were stilled in death. 

The subject of this sketch was a native of England, born in the 
enterprising little seaport of Ipswich in Suffolk, in 1821, of a re- 
spectable family of the name of Carter. His father, Joseph Carter, 
was an extensive glove manufacturer ; and after the usual amount 
21 (321) 



32 2 FRANK LESLIE. 

of schooling commonly enjoyed by the lads in his class of life, the 
father naturally wished that his son should learn the business 
with which he was himself identified, and Henry, for so was u Our 
Frank " then called, was placed, much against his will, to the busi- 
ness of glove-making ; but, like many other boys who have been 
born with poetic instinct, which sometimes works itself out on can- 
vas and sometimes in verse, or, as in this case, with a pencil and 
implements of the graver, Henry had already acquired a certain, 
though limited and partly surreptitious, fame as an artist. Even 
while at school he had filled every spare moment with sketches ; 
he had watched, as opportunity offered, the skilled workman in 
various trades, which assimilated with his cast of mind: braziers, 
ornamental work, wood-turners, silversmiths and jewelers ; he 
seems to have had, at this period, no opportunity to observe either 
printers or painters ; but when only thirteen, he drew and engraved 
the somewhat complicated and elaborate coat of arms affixed to 
the Ipswich town-hall, in such a correct and spirited manner, that 
his school-master was much impressed with the ability displayed ) 
even venturing to prophesy for him at that early date a brilliant 
future, should he dedicate himself to art. But of this his father 
would not hear, and thinking perhaps to remove him from sym- 
pathizing friends and bad advice, he determined to send him to 
London, placing him with an uncle who was also in the glove trade 
with the intention that the incipient artist should finally settle down 
to that very useful but prosaic business. But as love laughs at 
locksmiths so does genius spurn the metes and bounds prescribed 
by parents and guardians. Young Henry Carter at his uncle's in 
London, suddenly found all his hopes facilitated in that great city; 
here, in his evenings and leisure hours, he could consult not only 
books, but draftsmen and practical workmen in his chosen art of 
wood-engraving, and though still working secretly to avoid a too 
early eclaircissement with his uncle, he soon sought and found a 
sale for his drawings and engravings, which, for the sake of pre- 
serving his secret, he offered under the name of Frank Leslie, a 



FRANK LESLIE. 323 

name which was hereafter to become identified in England with 
the Illustrated London News, and which proved his first pass- 
port to recognition and success in this country. Having finally 
abandoned the glove business he was offered the charge of the 
engraving department on the above-named paper, successfully 
competing with those veteran artists, Linton and Landell, and here 
he had an opportunity of increasing his own technical knowledge 
and becoming acquainted with the best processes of printing then 
in use. Fortunately for the success of his subsequent career, 
Frank Leslie did not limit his observations to the engraving-room, 
or even to the printing of engravings merely, but used this posi- 
tion to become thoroughly initiated in all the arcana of the news- 
paper business : in type composition, pictorial effects, the making 
up of forms, proof-reading, etc. ; nothing escaped him which had 
any bearing upon the success of a publication. 

In 1848, when Henry Carter was about twenty-seven years of 
age, he made up his mind to come to this country, not as so many 
others do, with a vague general idea of improving his position, or 
imagining the United States to be El Dorado to all comers: he 
had conceived the definite idea of starting here an illustrated paper 
somewhat after the fashion of the Illustrated London News. 
His plans were as well matured in his mind as they could well be, 
minus the capital to carry them out; he meant to be his own pro- 
prietor, but this was impossible at once ; he had to feel his way, 
and on his first essay at obtaining employment he found himself 
embarrassed with his name. To every one here Henry Carter 
was a stranger, but among the artists on wood and engravers he 
soon found men who recognized the work and the signature of 
" Frank Leslie,'' of the Illustrated London News. A happy 
thought struck him : " Why not adopt this name which was already 
known to his fellow-artists, and to at least a portion of the reading 
public?" Under this name he had struggled through his artistic 
youth into recognition as an able workman ; he had already cast 
off the traditions of his family ; Carter was a good name: he had no 



324 FRANK LESLIE. 

reason to be ashamed of it, but it did him no good here ; it was 
rather a drag-anchor, viewed in a business aspect. This resolve 
was taken ; he would henceforth assume his nom-de-crayon as his 
only and legal cognomen ; it was a happy inspiration, an augury 
of success ; and that name, authorized by an act of the Legislature, 
he kept unsullied through good and evil report; nor did it die 
with him, as we shall see hereafter. 

His first regular engagement in the United States was made 
with Mr. Gleason, of Boston, the publisher of Gleasons Pictorial, 
in 1 85 1. At this time the wood-engravers' art in this country had 
not attained to anything like its present excellence. For a public 
citizen to be handed down to posterity in those days in a wood- 
cut, might almost have been considered libellous ; nor in other 
branches of the art was it comparable to the work of the present 
day, and yet the failure was not so much with the engravers as 
with the printers ; the art of overlaying was not then practised here, 
and Mr. Leslie was the first to introduce it into Mr. Gleason's es- 
tablishment. (This overlaying was a process, by which the proper 
effects of light and shade were brought out in the picture.) Mr. 
Leslie did not remain over two or three years in Boston. About 
this time Mr. P. T. Barnum, in connection with Messrs. Beach, had 
started the Illustrated News, in New York, and having secured 
the well-known literateur, Mr. Rufus W. Griswold and " Hans 
Breitmann" (C. G. Leland) as the editors, they engaged Mr. Les- 
lie to conduct the art department. Mr. Barnum with his usual 
shrewdness soon discovered the superior business talent of this 
head of his art room, and proposed to his associates to add $20,000 
to his interest in the paper, on the condition that Mr. Leslie should 
be appointed business manager ; had this proposal been accepted 
the News might have been alive to-day; as it was rejected, the 
paper languished a few months longer and then ceased to appear. 

Frank Leslie had now been in this country six years, and was 
anxious to become his own proprietor. His capital was yet 
scarcely commensurate with the undertaking, but in 1854 he com- 



FRANK LESLIE. 325 

menced the publication of the Gazette of Fashion, which title was 
subsequently exchanged for that of Frank Leslies Magazine. 
Later on he brought out and published the New York Journal. 
He had a reasonable measure of success with both of these, but 
he was still hampered with insufficient capital, and he was also dis- 
satisfied with the style of those publications. His model was the 
Illustrated London News, and he wanted to establish a paper of 
neat form and merit. Vainly he sought to procure a partner in 
the enterprise. At that time there seemed no one in New York 
willing to risk his money in such a venture. But, determined to 
take the risk, he at last decided to start alone, and on the 14th of 
December, 1855, the first number of Frank Leslies Illustrated 
Newspaper appeared ; and, in spite of all difficulties, he persevered. 
Many times during the early period of its existence it was on the 
point of collapse, for, though it sold tolerably well, and he had a 
fair list of subscribers, the public had not then learned to look 
upon illustrated papers as one of the necessities of life; but to the 
majority they were still a luxury, to be bought only occasionally. 
Hence it was up-hill work to put the paper upon a firm foundation. 
The lack of sufficient capital to start would eventually have caused 
the failure of the enterprise had not Mr. Leslie found at last one 
good, reliable friend, who helped him over many financial emergen- 
cies. Sometimes, when the week came round, the proprietor found 
it impossible to pay his hands without asking the assistance of this 
friend ; but still, so great was his faith in the ultimate success of 
his enterprise, that, while he could manage to exist, he could not 
bring his mind to voluntarily abandon it, and his friend's faith in 
him was such that it was not until he had been obliged to borrow 
money for the payment of his hands three weeks in succession 
that he mildly hinted something about the inexpediency of pro- 
longing the struggle. But just at this juncture, the darkest hour 
before the dawn, an event took place in New York the illustration 
of which promptly and accurately brought before the public was 
the turning-point in the fate of Frank Leslie s Illustrated News- 



3 2< 5 FRANK LESLIE. 

paper. This tragical event, which caused such great excitement 
in the city of New York, and indeed throughout the country, was 
the murder of the well-known dentist, Dr. Harvey Burdell, the 
crime being supposed to have been perpetrated by a woman. 

The graphic illustrations of this tragedy caused the paper to be 
in great demand ; the sales were so large that several editions of 
the paper had to be printed, and the profits flowing in enabled 
Mr. Leslie to cancel his most pressing debts, while it put new life 
into the whole enterprise, as many who had bought copies of 
the paper became permanent subscribers. Hitherto what illus- 
trated periodicals had existed in this country had been mainly de- 
voted to publishing reprints of English plates, or cuts, illustrative 
of travels in distant countries, while the distinct aim of Mr. Leslie 
was to show, week by week, the current events of the time. The 
extra expense and exertion necessary to secure prompt and cor- 
rect delineations of scenes distant, ofttimes hundreds of miles, 
was of course very great, but the novelty proved attractive, and 
every notable event portrayed by the facile engravers of Leslie's 
corps of workers added to the reputation of the paper. The 
inauguration of President Buchanan marks with precision the 
period when current illustration had become a fixed fact in the his- 
tory of wood-engraving in the United States, this being the first 
time in which the scenes enacted in Washington on similar august 
occasions had been reproduced after the lapse of only a few days 
in a New York weekly. 

Frank Leslie was now on the full tide of success ; his main 
object was accomplished. His paper was a very fair counterpart 
of the Illustrated London News, his original model, while, in ac- 
cordance with the genius of his adopted country, he had infused 
into it an amount of progressive enterprise not then attained by 
his English prototype. But his ambition was not satisfied ; his 
ideas grew with success, and, realizing that pictures alone, or with 
the slight setting of description which his News afforded, could 
not interest all classes of readers, he projected a new publication, 



FRANK LESLIE. 327 

of a more intellectual cast, and which he called the Chimney Corner. 
This was also a weekly, and was filled with reading matter suited 
to both old and young. But this did not suffice ; his appetite for 
journalism appeared to grow with what it fed on, and soon after 
the children were specially catered for by the issue of the Boys 
and Girls Weekly. Next came Pleasant Hours ; then a monthly, 
the Ladies Journal, subsequently called the Ladies' Magazine. 
Then followed three more monthlies and another weekly — the 
Popular Monthly, the Swiday Magazine, the Chatterbox and the 
Budget of Wit. The Sunday Magazine was somewhat different 
in character from the others, and was intended to meet the wants 
of those who were more or less scrupulous as to secular reading 
on Sunday. 

It would seem now as if all classes had been provided for, and 
that Mr. Leslie might well rest content with the issue of eleven 
different periodicals, all more or less illustrated. But there was 
still one great project before him. New York contains a large 
foreign population, and among these are many thousands of Ger- 
mans, while in some of the Western States whole townships are 
composed of the same nationality. The Germans are a reading 
people ; nearly all have been well instructed to a certain extent in 
their native land. To import reading matter, either books or 
magazines, is a costly process for the mass of the emigrants, even 
of the most thrifty class. Mr. Leslie determined to furnish this 
portion of our foreign residents with a serial in their own lan- 
guage — printed with their own national type, and containing essen- 
tially the same matter and the same illustrations as the Ilhistrated 
Newspaper. This weekly, the Lllustrite Zeitung, is exceedingly 
well patronized, and circulates very largely in New York, Cincin- 
nati, Chicago, San Francisco, Texas, and wherever the Germans are 
t settled in any considerable numbers, and is to them a very pleasing 
substitute for the popular illustrated Leipsic magazine, Uber Land 
und Meer. This lllustrite Zeitung we consider a very useful in- 
strument for Americanizing the ideas of German emigrants, en- 



328 FRANK LESLIE. 

abling them from their first entrance into the country to become 
familiarized with our current history, told in their own tongue and 
illustrated as fully as the English edition. Whether Mr. Leslie 
had any such patriotic object in view we know not; perhaps like 
some other noble workers, " he builded better than he knew." 

One of the reasons why Frank Leslie was enabled to produce 
truthful illustrations of accidents, tragedies, festivals, or whatever 
interested the public, sometimes within twenty-four hours of their 
occurrence — a rapidity which was the cause of frequent astonish- 
ment and much ignorant criticism — was the system which he intro- 
duced into this country of dividing the block to be worked upon. 
Instead of one man being set to engrave a whole picture, the 
block which was to eventually form it was divided into as many 
sections as the necessity of the case required, and fifteen or even 
forty men worked simultaneously on different portions ; these, of 
course, being so accurately fitted as to defy detection in the printed 
copy. 

Another reason for his prompt reproduction of recent scenes 
was his prescience of what was to come. He always had on 
hand the likeness of eminent persons, and in any event which 
could be foreseen, as the arrival of distinguished guests, the cele- 
bration of a festival or holiday, etc., he would send his artists weeks 
or days in advance, to make sketches of the surrounding scenery 
of public halls, of shipping, or any details that it was possible to 
procure before the time of need. In one case we remember, in 
which a large display of bunting was probable in San Francisco, he 
telegraphed to that city on the day of festivity to know " which 
way the wind was blowing," so as not to commit the error of pub- 
lishing a picture with the flags streaming from the wrong quarter 
of the compass, as may occasionally be seen in hastily drawn illus- 
trations. 

With all these enterprises on his hands, Mr. Leslie added the 
publication of books, chiefly the reprint of novels and travels taken 
from his own periodicals. The " Historical Register of the Cen- 



FRANK LESLIE. 320, 

tennial Exhibition " was of another nature, and, considering the 
statistical character of the work, was a marvel of accuracy, and 
remains to-day a valuable book of reference. 

In 1867 Mr. Leslie was appointed a commissioner to represent 
the State of New York at the Paris Exposition, in the Depart- 
ment of Fine Arts. On this occasion he received two medals ; 
one of gold, presented by the emperor in person, on behalf of the 
government "pour services rendus," and the other from the Im- 
perial Commission as a souvenir of the exposition. Nine years 
later, Mr. Leslie was selected for similar service to attend the 
Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and of this commission 
from the State of New York he was elected president. These 
duties were faithfully performed, and in a spirit of justice and fair- 
ness, which left no ground for complaint, even with disappointed 
exhibitors. 

But like other daring adventurers, Mr. Leslie met with some 
reverses, and was unfortunate in land speculations. His expenses 
were enormous. Up to the year iS 77, when he made an assign- 
ment for the benefit of his creditors, he had paid to one firm in 
Massachusetts over $3,000,000 for white paper alone. The terms 
of this assignment were somewhat peculiar, and very favorable to 
Mr. Leslie, whose creditors did not cease to be friends when he 
fell into temporary embarrassment. The assignee in this case was 
Mr. I. W. England, a gentleman of the strictest probity, as well as 
of superior business capacity. The terms of the agreement were, 
that Mr. Leslie should continue the management of his business, 
the property to be vested in trustees for the space of three years, 
when it should revert to the veteran publisher ; in the meantime 
the creditors were to receive eighty per cent, of the net profits 
and Mr. Leslie twenty per cent. Mr. Leslie's death, which occurred 
in January, 1880, led to some complications as to the proper legal 
construction of this agreement, but in the end, under a specific 
judicial interpretation, it was carried put, Mrs. Leslie as sole leg- 
atee liquidating the indebtedness remaining unpaid upon the 
confirmation of her title to the estate. 



33° FRANK LESLIE. 

In all his business relations, as well as in social life, Mr. Leslie 
was always the generous, genial sympathizer ; his personal mag- 
netism was very great; his employes were devoted to him, and he 
took a lively interest in all that concerned their welfare ; even when 
they left his employment for other spheres he took pride and 
pleasure in hearing of their success. He was a member of sev- 
eral of the leading clubs in New York — the Manhattan, Jockey, and 
Lotus. He was also a Mason of high rank, and associated with 
the Holland Lodge, one of the most select in the city. But home 
life was more appreciated by him than club life ; both in his elegant 
residence on Fifth avenue, but more especially at his lovely es- 
tate at Saratoga, his hospitality was wide and generous. This 
property, lying on the easterly side of Saratoga Lake, is consid- 
ered by travelled observers to equal in beauty any of the most 
famous lakes in Europe ; it comprises a stretch of some two miles, 
and if divided would offer a number of the most attractive build- 
ing sites to be found in that vicinity. It was in this charming re- 
treat that Mr. and Mrs. Leslie entertained Dom Pedro, the Em- 
peror of Brazil, when he made his flying visit to this country. 

His love of nature was intense, and he was never happier than 
when conducting some guest over the Saratoga estate, and to his 
favorite point of view overlooking Lake Lonely, pointing out the 
beauties of the landscape, with all the minutiae of which he was 
familiar: not a beautiful tree, form, or simple flower escaped his 
observation. His love of nature extended to that of animals : he 
was a friend of Mr. Bergh, the great champion of the protection 
of animals, and in this connection our readers will recall the great 
excitement which was produced when " Frank Leslie's " paper 
came out with a series of illustrations delineating the horrors of 
the " swill-fed cattle," and the inhumanity exercised upon the poor 
animals, with the necessary result of poisonous milk being intro- 
duced into thousands of families. In this way he assisted in intro- 
ducing one of the most pressing sanitary reforms that has concen- 
trated public attention for years. Indeed, pictorial illustration is 



FRANK LESLIE. 33 1 

one of the most potent influences that can be brought to bear on 
reforms in which the public must participate to make them 
effectual. 

Mr. Leslie had been married in early life, but the connection 
proved uncongenial, and a legal separation was effected in 1859. 
It was the two sons of this marriage who contested his will unsuc- 
cessfully, as we shall see hereafter. 

Mr. Leslie's second wife was Mrs. Mariam Florence Follin, a 
woman remarkable for culture, ability, and true womanly refine- 
ment, combined with an extraordinary capacity for business. She 
had been an author and a writer for magazines from early youth, 
was a fine linguist, and was in every way fitted to understand and 
aid her husband's projects. By the "will" all the business inter- 
ests and the Saratoga property were bequeathed to the widow. 
Mr. Leslie knew her great abilities, and appreciated them. He 
knew that she could fill his place at the head of the great estab- 
lishment, and he asked her to do it. The better to carry out his 
desire that all his publications should go on, without interruption 
or embarrassment, he made of her the singular, so far as we know 
the unique, request that she should after his decease drop the 
name of " Mariam Florence," and under legal authorization adopt 
that of " Frank : " this she did by procuring an order to that effect 
from the Court of Common Pleas soon after the decease of Mr. 
Leslie. It was Mr. Leslie's will, as it was also his widow's interest, 
that she should carry out the agreement made with his creditors. 
Of course, when these latter found the whole business transferred 
to a woman, some of them endeavored to withdraw from their part 
of the agreement, no doubt imagining that she would fail in hers ; 
but they mistook the character of Mrs. Leslie. Her step-son, 
Henry, also endeavored to undermine her business by calling him- 
self Frank Leslie, and together with his brother Alfred made every 
effort to set aside the will under the usual plea of "undue influ- 
ence " upon and " incapacity of the testator ; " but conclusive evi- 
dence was introduced from eminent physicians and lawyers show- 



33 2 FRANK LESLIE. 

ing that these were utterly baseless, and the woman whom he had 
trusted in life he believed could also be trusted to carry out his 
wishes after his death. The will was sustained; but at just about 
this time a payment of $50,000 was due the creditors, and Mrs- 
Leslie had neither the means of meeting it nor any available prop- 
erty on which to raise a loan, for Mr. Leslie's estate was yet in the 
hands of the assignee. It shows with what confidence she had 
been able to inspire her friends when at this critical juncture a lad 
in her office, unsolicited by her, took upon himself to try and raise 
this money, not from business men or merchants, but from a lady 
of wealth residing in Brooklyn — Mrs. T. K. Smith. To her the 
youth described the state of affairs, and, undoubtedly, also the ex- 
ceptional ability and business integrity of Mrs. Leslie. The latter 
was personally unknown to Mrs. Smith, though this lady had fol- 
lowed the story of the contested will intelligently, and perceived 
that here was an opportunity for one woman to help another in a 
way which seldom occurs. She improved the opportunity. She 
advanced the $50,000, after calling to see Mrs. Leslie and arrang- 
ing for the repayment in instalments of $5,000 at intervals of six 
months. This notable interview took place on the 23d of May. 
Instead of receiving the $5,000, as agreed, in the ensuing Novem- 
ber, and which her critical friends had assured Mrs. Smith she was 
never likely to see, on the 19th of October, before a cent was le- 
gally due, Mrs. Leslie paid over not the fractional instalment, but 
the whole $50,000 and interest, out of the earnings of her estab- 
lishment during the interim ! 

No department of the business had suffered or been over- 
looked since its management had passed into feminine hands. 
She was as thorough and as hard working, perhaps more so, 
than Mr. Leslie had ever been. One of the first occurrences 
which called for unwonted energy in meeting the public demand 
for prompt news was on the occasion of President Garfield's 
assassination. The news of this dastardly attempt reached the 
city about half-past nine a. m. on the 2d of July. By the next 



FRANK LESLIE. 333 

train Mrs. Leslie despatched two artists to Washington to procure 
drawings or photographs of the locality of the tragedy and the 
persons concerned in it. Both artists set to work with a will and 
by next morning some of the sketches were in Mrs. Leslie's office ; 
the remainder came next day. The entire corps of artists and 
engravers had been already enjoined to be ready for work early 
on Sunday morning, and work they did, with Mrs. Leslie at their 
head, and with energy equal to the occasion, so that on Tuesday 
morning (the 4th of July having intervened) " Frank Leslie's " 
came out with full and accurate illustrations of the various persons 
and scenes connected with the sad affair. Not satisfied with this, 
three days later an extra was issued with still more extended and 
minute illustrations of everything bearing on this exciting topic ; 
the subject being still amplified in the next Tuesday's issue, so, as 
one may say, nothing was left in the way of novelty for less enter- 
prising publishers to pick up. 

Still greater push and energy were displayed when the fatal 19th 
of September came with the news of the President's death ; this 
happened late on Monday evening when the regular Tuesday's 
issue had already gone to press. Mrs. Leslie did not consume 
time in doubt ; she ordered the presses stopped ; sacrificed the 
work already done, and every hand in the establishment was set 
to work to hasten forward a new edition, which in this case had 
to go over the usual day, but on Wednesday the paper appeared 
with all the affecting scenes which had transpired at Elberon ; 
and succeeding these followed others, including all the funereal 
pageant, in quick succession. Over thirty thousand copies were 
sold in Cleveland alone, and probably twice as many might have 
been, but machinery as well as human endurance has its limits, 
and the presses and pressmen were equally taxed to their utter- 
most. 

Of course the expenses involved in such unlimited enterprise 
were enormous ; between July and November of 1880 Mrs. Leslie 
paid out over $77,000 for white paper. Now and then some thick- 



334 FRANK LESLIE. 

headed man appeared upon her horizon thinking to impose upon 
her because she was a woman ; they were soon taught another 
lesson ; but in the business circles of New York she very soon 
inspired absolute confidence, so that when she no longer needed 
it she had numerous offers of any amount of money at four per 
cent. 

In many different ways the career of Frank Leslie has been of 
public advantage to the community. During the late civil war his 
artists were everywhere, risking their lives at every engagement, 
sending to the office from all sections of the country views of 
friend and foe, which did more to familiarize the average reader 
with the terrible meaning of war than written words could ever 
do. Many of these young men lost their lives in these perilous 
times ; when such accidents occurred Frank Leslie's purse was 
ever open to relieve the necessities of a family so bereft. His 
generosity to those injured in his service was well known to all 
the craft. His office might be considered a great school for artists, 
considering the numbers employed and the fact that every im- 
provement in style, material or implements was seized upon with 
avidity. Progress was the watchword of the establishment. The 
men on the pay-roll of "Frank Leslie's" composed a small army. 
In ordinary times the artists and engravers were required to work 
only from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, with 
an hour for lunch. This generous treatment was the natural out- 
come of Frank Leslie's humanitarian feeling; he thought six hours 
a day quite as much time as should be given to work requiring 
such close application and involving such a heavy strain upon the 
nervous organization. The number of employes in all depart- 
ments in the large publishing house at the corner of Park Place 
and College Place, New York, is nearly four hundred persons. 
Thus the work that the man " Frank Leslie " founded and main- 
tained for twenty-five years is being nobly continued by the woman 
" Frank Leslie " with energy and vigor fully equal to his own. 



JOHNS HOPKINS. 

When one has written the name of Johns Hopkins, the ten- 
dency of the pen is almost irresistible to add the word " Univer- 
sity," they seem so inseparable ; yet to thousands of people in his 
native State, he will be gratefully remembered if he had never 
projected this great seat of learning. Johns Hopkins was born in 
Anne Arundel county, Maryland, on the 19th of May, 1795. The 
Hopkins are of English Quaker stock, and six brothers of this 
family came to Maryland among the very earliest colonists. Two 
of these proceeded to New England and settled there; the four 
others took up large tracts of land in different parts of Maryland : 
on Deer creek, Hartford county; in Baltimore county, near Go- 
varstown ; and the direct ancestor of Johns made his home at the 
head of South river in Anne Arundel county. All of these several 
branches have maintained through their descendants elevated 
positions in the social scale ; some of the leading families of Rhode 
Island bear this name. 

Johns Hopkins, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, 
inherited from the first settler on South river a very large landed 
property, together with 100 negroes. He had eleven children. 
Belonging to the Society of Friends, who early took their stand in 
this country against the institution of slavery, he gave his slaves 
their freedom, and worked himself on the farm, with the aid of his 
sons, and such white laborers as he could hire. One of his sons, 
Samuel, married Hannah Janney, of Loudon county, Virginia, a 
lady of a very wealthy and respected family, a person of great 
intelligence and force of character, and of commanding influence 
in the Society of Friends. These were the parents of the late 
Johns Hopkins. Samuel Hopkins bought out the other heirs 

(335) 



336 JOHNS HOPKINS. 

to the estate, and carried on the farm on the same principle of 
dignifying white labor in a slave-holding State as his father had 
done, using also the labor of his sons; but of these, Johns was not 
content to continue an agriculturalist. When about eighteen (in 
1812), he declared his desire for a mercantile life, and soon there- 
after went to his uncle, Gerald Hopkins of Baltimore, who was in 
the wholesale grocery business, as a clerk. Here young Johns 
found a fitting sphere for his energies ; he speedily acquired a 
knowledge of all the details of the business, and so rapidly did his 
ideas advance, that the very next year, with his uncle's consent, he 
formed a partnership with one Benjamin P. Moore, and started in 
business for himself; the firm-name was "Hopkins & Moore." 
But neither of these young people had any money with which to 
commence a wholesale trade. Fortunately, during the brief time 
in which young Hopkins had been in Baltimore, he had made many 
valuable business friends, and he readily obtained credit, his uncle 
endorsing his notes in some cases. A short time previous to his 
death, Mr. Hopkins told a friend of his business start, and said : 
"When I was a boy, my uncle, Gerald T. Hopkins, often came to 
South River to visit my parents, and, noticing I was an active boy 
on the farm, asked my mother to let me come to Baltimore to live 
with him, and said he would bring me up a merchant. At the age 
of seventeen I came, stayed in my uncle's store, who was a whole- 
sale grocer and commission merchant, and lived in his family. He 
was an eminent minister in the Society of Friends, and when I was 
but nineteen, he was appointed to go out to Ohio to the first 
yearly meeting, to be held at Mt. Pleasant. My aunt accompanied 
him, with three others. They all travelled on horseback, a great 
part of the way through a wilderness, with no other roads but 
Indian paths. But they returned, after an absence of several 
months, in safety. Previous to leaving, my uncle arranged his 
business affairs, and calling me to him, said: 'As thee has been 
faithful to my interests since thee has been with me, I am going to 
leave everything in thy hands. Here are checks which I have 



JOHNS HOPKINS. T>37 

signed my name to ; there are upward of 500 of them. Thee 
will deposit the money as it is received, and as thee wants money 
thee will fill up the checks which I leave with thee. Buy the 
goods, and do the best thee can.' I felt my responsibility to be 
very great. But on his return, on looking over his affairs, he was 
surprised to find I had done much better than he expected. I had 
increased his business considerably ; and it is with pride and 
pleasure I look back to the time, and to the great confidence uncle 
Gerald reposed in me. I lived with my uncle until I was twenty- 
four years of age, and one day he took me aside, and asked me 
if I would like to go into business for myself. I answered : 'Yes; 
but, uncle, I have no capital. I have only $800 which I have saved 
up.' He said : ' That will make no difference ; I will endorse for 
thee, and this will give thee good credit, and in a short time thee 
will make a capital ; thee has been faithful to my interests, and I 
will start thee in business.' So I took a warehouse near his, and, 
with his endorsements and assistance, the first year I sold $200,000 
worth of goods, and soon made the capital which my uncle said I 
would make." 

In less than three years the firm of Hopkins & Moore was dis- 
solved, Johns Hopkins wishing to have the sole control of the 
business, which had indeed prospered very well, but in the opinion 
of Mr. Hopkins could be greatly extended, and made more profit- 
able under his exclusive supervision. Many noted persons have 
had curious superstitions as to their own destiny ; some who, like 
Alexander and Napoleon, believed their star led them on as the 
conquerors of kings, and the destroyers of empires ; others have 
fancied themselves preordained to the work of instructing man- 
kind, or of saving souls, like Gautima, Buddha, and Francis Xavier; 
but Johns Hopkins held, we believe, the unique idea that he was 
divinely commissioned to make money I 

After the dissolution of the original firm, Mr. Hopkins sent for 
two of his brothers, smart young men, but both minors, to assist 
him in his business ; almost from the start giving them an interest 
22 



338 JOHNS HOPKINS. 

in it, as the best mode of benefiting them, and assuring himself of 
their utmost zeal. The new firm-sign bore the words, " Hopkins 
& Brothers." Under this arrangement the business took on new 
forms of development, mainly, however, through the unremitting 
energy of the senior partner. The original nucleus of this grow- 
ing trade lay among the widely extended family connections and 
friends of Mr. Hopkins in the great Valley of Virginia, and was 
thence extended into other parts of the State, and into other States, 
including, of course, Maryland. The prosperity of this firm was 
continuous ; the brothers remained in unbroken business relations 
and fraternal friendship for a quarter of a century, when Mr. 
Johns Hopkins withdrew from the firm in favor of the younger 
partners ; but not to live in elegant leisure on his already large 
fortune, but to continue his peculiar mission in other directions. 

About 1847-48 Mr. Hopkins became the President of the Mer- 
cantile Bank of Baltimore. He also took an active interest in and 
became a large shareholder in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
and was appointed a Director, and in 1855 was appointed Chair- 
man of the Finance Committee. During the terrible commercial 
crisis of 1857 this road was exceedingly embarrassed. It was built 
originally to connect the coal-fields of Pennsylvania with the sea- 
board, but the directors had long desired to make western connec- 
tions with the thriving towns and cities of the west ; up to the time 
of the commercial crisis the prospect of obtaining the necessary 
capital promised well, but the monetary panic suddenly crushed 
all their hopes. In this emergency Johns Hopkins came to the 
front and voluntarily offered to become personally responsible for 
the whole amount necessary to extend the road to the Ohio river. 
In 1 87 1 he held fifteen thousand shares of this stock of the par value 
of $1,500,000, and a market value of $2,000,000 ; no other individ- 
ual approximating to this figure in the concern, the city of Baltimore 
and the State of Maryland alone slightly exceeding the amount. 

Mr. Hopkins had the interests of Baltimore very much at heart; 
everything that he could do to increase its commercial greatness 



JOHNS HOPKINS. 339 

and material prosperity he did. One of the kindest and most con- 
siderate ways in which he did this was in helping young merchants 
through temporary financial embarrassments ; carefully watching the 
course of young men, he was not slow to discover who were worthy 
and who were unworthy of his assistance, and Johns Hopkins did 
not waste money or credit on the idle or dishonest. As bank presi- 
dent he was able to perform many good offices in this way/ When 
a worthy young merchant wanted accommodation from the bank, 
and his name and status came before the board, if the directors 
hesitated, Mr. Hopkins would assume the responsibility, often un- 
known to the applicant, thus setting many a young man firmly on 
his feet, who, but for such timely help, must have gone under, 
with the too great pressure of crowding obligations. 

Another way in which Mr. Hopkins assisted the material pros- 
perity of Baltimore was, by opening up new channels of trade to 
her merchants, and by increasing the facilities for its transaction 
within the city itself. For the latter purpose he bought whole 
blocks and large plots of land, pulling down small and inadequate 
buildings, and putting up substantial warehouses and other needed 
structures, thus enabling certain branches of trade and commerce 
to concentrate in proper and convenient localities, furnishing full 
scope for all to conduct their business to the best advantage ; and 
adding to the commercial importance of the city, to the taxable 
wealth of the community, and affording occupation to hundreds of 
laborers and artisans. With constant temptation to speculate in 
railroad and other stocks, the increased value of which was largely 
owing to his own energy and judicious management, he never put 
a single share upon the market. All his purchases were made as 
permanent investments, and so held to the end. 

Mr. Hopkins never married ; during the later years of his life 
he lived on his beautiful suburban estate, about a mile from the 
city limits, at " Clifton," on the Hartford road. This estate con- 
tained about three hundred and fifty acres, and it was this estate 
which he originally designed for the location of the University he 



34-0 JOHNS HOPKINS. 

so amply endowed. One reason why he thought this a desirable 
site was, that the grounds would afford ample space, and every 
facility for the study of practical botany and other branches of 
natural science. 

Although the funds bequeathed by Mr. Hopkins for the Univer- 
sity and hospital foundations did not come into the hands of the 
trustees- until after his decease, yet the charter of incorporation 
was secured six years previously, and the munificent donor per- 
sonally selected the gentlemen for trustees whom he had long 
known, and whom he felt that he could trust to carry out his 
wishes; and with them he frequently consulted as to the principal 
objects to be attained through these grand institutions. The 
"Johns Hopkins University " was incorporated in our Centennial 
year, 1876. 

Mr. Hopkins survived until the 24th of December, 1873. He 
had by his will provided liberally for all his kindred and depen- 
dents, but by a codicil he subsequently revoked some of these 
private bequests, " because the parties named had been otherwise 
provided for;" what was thus revoked was added to his public 
gifts. One of the pleasing features of his legacy for the Univer- 
sity is the entire absence of any perplexing conditions. In his 
grand gift Mr. Hopkins did not permit himself to trammel the 
trustees by any whims or fancies of a personal nature, but leaves 
them entirely free to exercise their discretion in details — not even 
definitely assigning a location, though it was well known that 
Clifton was the site in his own mind. The only positive condition 
binding upon the trustees was that the capital should not be en- 
croached on for building purposes ; that must be derived from the 
income, and the main fund left intact as an endowment for the 
practical work of the university. It would appear, from some 
anecdotes related of Mr. Hopkins, that he was a firm believer in 
the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures ; but no sectarian or re- 
ligious test was affixed to the faculty or contemplated forms of 
instruction. Like other rich men, he was often annoyed by the 



JOHNS HOPKINS. 341 

solicitations of disreputable as well as respectable beggars. One 
of the former kind was an inveterate and pertinacious tramp, who 
used to take up his position under a grand old oak, which stood 
sentinel-like near the porter's lodge at Clifton, which made the old 
millionaire very nervous, and was a daily vexation to him. Speak- 
ing of it on one occasion to a nephew, the latter suggested that he 
should " pay him to go away." " Pay him money ! " Mr. Hopkins 
shrieked, while his long arms flew about like those of a windmill ; 
" pay him money ! God forbid ! If I should once do that there 
would soon be a hundred here instead of one." "Well, then," 
said the young man, " if I was you I would kick him off the place." 
u I cannot do that, either ; I am afraid to do that." " Why, surely 
you are not afraid of such a miserable cur as that," retorted the 
nephew. " No, no," said Johns Hopkins, sinking his voice to a 
hoarse whisper ; " I am not afraid of him, but I'm afraid of God. 
Have you not read in the Bible how Dives treated Lazarus? would 
you have me do like him and burn in hell forever ? " Whatever 
were the nephew's theological opinions, he ventured no reply to 
this " confession of faith," and the peace-disturbing vagabond re- 
mained in undisputed possession of his selected post. 

During his last illness the pressure of his responsibility for 
the use of the money which he had made, or intended to make, still 
weighed upon him. He knew that to some extent he was regarded 
as a close, avaricious man, and, in the course of his life, had occa- 
sionally remarked to some of his more intimate friends that they 
would some day find out that he was not hoarding money for his 
own sake, but that he had a divine inspiration not to give it away 
indiscriminately to the importunate, the impudent and lazy; that 
the wealth which had rolled in upon him was only his to use for God, 
and to fulfil his mission it must be used with care, and not lavishly 
distributed to all who would like to share in it. Mr. Hopkins 
sometimes used very homely language and illustrations, but they 
were very much to the point, and one so true to human nature, as 
well as the swinish nature which he described, that we give it a 



34 2 JOHNS HOPKINS. 

place here. The conversation occurred only a few days before his 
death. Speaking with his gardener, an old and faithful dependent, 
he said, " I am beginning to hate this place" (Clifton), " because it 
does not bring in any money; I hate everything that does not 
bring in money." Then, after a while, he suddenly asked, " Did 
you ever feed hogs ? If you have, you must have seen how the 
strongest ones will seize upon the ears of corn and carry 
them off, while the weaker ones follow them, squeaking, in hopes 
it may be dropped, and that they may get all or a part." The 
gardener admitted that it was "jes' so." "Well, then," said Mr. 
Hopkins, " I am like that strong hog — I've got the big ear of corn, 
and every little piggish rascal in Baltimore is bound to steal it or 
get it from me some way if he can." Of course, the gardener 
could not readily admit that his kind employer was one of the 
strong swine; yet the simile was too striking to be controverted. 
After a silence of a few moments he asked again, " Do you think 
a very rich man is happy?" To this the gardener answered, 
" Extreme poverty is a sad enough thing, but I suppose very great 
wealth has its troubles, also." "You are right," replied Johns 
Hopkins. " Next to the hell of being without money is the purga- 
tory of having too much. I have a mission, and under its influence 
I have accumulated great wealth — but not happiness." It is rather 
sad to think that so conscientious and well-meaning a man was not 
able to enjoy his life ; but there were some peculiar reasons for 
this in his case. One was that he had no true family life, and 
another was a sort of morbid mentality, which made him exces- 
sively sensitive to his responsibilities as a man of wealth ; but could 
he now realize the benefits which he has conferred upon thousands 
of his fellow-men, who are ready to " rise up and call him blessed," 
we think he might experience some of that happiness of which he 
deprived himself while in life. 

The trustees of the Johns Hopkins fund decided to locate the 
university within the city limits of Baltimore rather than at Clifton, 
so that they might have the immediate benefit of existing institu- 



JOHNS HOPKINS. 343 

tions : such, for instance, as the " Peabody Library," containing 
60,000 volumes, which was, by the consent of the trustees of that 
institution, made available to the university students; as also to de- 
rive benefit from the proximity to the Medical Institute (mainly 
technological) and the Maryland Academy of Sciences. It was 
these considerations which induced the trustees in the first instance 
to purchase two private houses on the southwest corner of How- 
ard and Ross streets, which, with a temporary annex, served the 
purposes of the first students collected under the will of Johns 
Hopkins, and in the assembly room of which was a brass memor- 
ial tablet, presented by the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, thus inscribed : 
" To commemorate the bounty of Johns Hopkins of Baltimore, 
who, by noble gifts for the advancement of learning and the relief 
of suffering, has won the gratitude of his city and his country." 
The actual work of the university was inaugurated on February 
22 (Washington's birthday), 1876. The object of the trustees, as 
they say in their first report, was " not to imitate or to attempt to 
rival any other college, but to make, if possible, a positive contri- 
bution to American education." In the report for 188 1-2 we find 
that to some extent this has been done. Among other items men- 
tioned is the fact that Professor Rowland, the instructor in physical 
science, who, as a member of the electrical commission, lately vis- 
ited Europe, has constructed a new instrument for ruling ''diffrac- 
tion gratings " with most excellent results ; and also his assistant, 
Mr. Hall, has made note of some new points on the action of 
magnets on electric currents. It was also by a member of this 
faculty, Dr. Remsen, that the true cause of the deterioration of the 
Cochituate water, used to supply the city of Boston, was discov- 
ered: various reasons had been assigned and abandoned to ac- 
count for the disagreeable odor and taste of this water during the 
summer of '81 ; but it was reserved for a professor of the Johns 
Hopkins University of Baltimore to discover that the cause of this 
was not " dead fish," as had been supposed, but by a semi-vegeta- 
ble growth, the " spongilla lacustris," or fresh water sponge. The 



344 JOHNS HOPKINS. 

cause once made clear a remedy was easily applied, and the cap- 
ital of New England was soon rejoicing in cleansed reservoirs and 
usable water. But a still more remarkable application of science 
was that process discovered by Prof. Dr. Martin, of the Biological 
department, whose researches in the study of the mammalian 
heart have resulted in enabling him to keep the hearts of mammals 
alive for five or six hours after the dissection and death of the 
animal, so that experiments upon the living organ in animals akin 
to mammary may be studied instead of depending upon the dead 
human body, or the unsatisfactory substitute of living batrachia. 
We might add other instances, but for so young an institution as 
Hopkins this is an excellent showing ; no money actually coming 
into the hands of the trustees until the 18th of March, 1875. 

Mr. Hopkins took care to provide for the support and encour- 
agement of specialists in science, philosophy, and literature, after 
the manner of the great foreign universities, by establishing ten 
fellowships, with an honorarium of $500 per annum, for such as wish 
to devote their time to the higher branches beyond the regular 
university course, or to any special branch of human knowledge. 
There are also twenty free scholarships open to the competition of 
young men, natives of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, 
and five free scholarships to applicants from any other part of the 
country. There are also some " two-year scholarships " open to 
competition from among the best-prepared youth of Baltimore 
City College ; the successful candidates of this class receive a gift 
of $100 at the end of each of the two years, if their progress and 
conduct have been satisfactory. The number of students at the 
present time is over two hundred, with a staff of forty-three pro- 
fessors and teachers. Mr. Hopkins was not content with endow- 
ing this noble institution for raising the mental standard of the 
present and coming generations of Maryland: he had thoughts of 
mercy for the sick, the crippled ; for physical affliction in any form, 
and especially when this was combined with poverty. He left over 
$3,000,000 for the purpose of erecting a hospital on the most ex- 



JOHNS HOPKINS. 345 

tensive scale, and on the most approved hygienic principles. The 
plot of ground dedicated to this purpose contains about fourteen 
acres, and is located one mile to the eastward of the university. 
The central building containing the offices and public halls is an 
elegant building with tall towers, which can be seen from almost 
any part of the city. The buildings for the reception of patients, 
nurses' kitchen, autopsy and the medical school, number fifteen. 
There are twelve wards, divided so that not only men and women, 
adults and children, black and white, are separately provided for, 
but also different diseases have their allotted place. Of course the 
most perfect ventilation and all approved modern appliances are 
abundantly furnished. Part of the wards are for free patients, 
part for those able to pay. The buildings are (in external appear- 
ance) in the* Queen Anne style, but the interior is more light and 
cheerful than most structures imitating that style of architecture. 
The extent of the hospital accommodations would seem to indicate 
that the trustees have great faith in the future growth of Balti- 
more, as the wards already opened exceed the demands of the 
present population. Mr. Hopkins was not a handsome man ; 
there was nothing in his appearance or manners to recommend 
him to the beau monde ; brought up in the faith of the Friends he 
was very apt, when he did speak, to express the plain truth in a 
way not always acceptable to " ears polite." But he was honest 
through and through, and much of what he did, which his contem- 
poraries looked upon as mere selfish schemes for his own aggran- 
dizement, was really done from one of the noblest motives — the 
desire to benefit the city of Baltimore. His external appearance 
was much against him, but future generations in the " monumental 
city " will not forget that " handsome is that handsome does." Mr. 
Hopkins' bequests for public benefits exceed all others — being 
over $7,000,000 ! 



JOSEPH HARRISON, JR. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Philadelphia, Septem- 
ber 20, 1 8 10. His parents were Joseph and Mary (Crawford) 
Harrison, natives of Gloucester county, New Jersey. Joseph 
led the ordinary life of a city boy, and obtained rather more than 
the ordinary amount of schooling, for he was of quick apprehen- 
sion and studious in his habits, so that at the age of fourteen he 
had laid the groundwork, at least, of a fair English education. 
Subsequent to that period his only educational advantages con- 
sisted in attendance upon a night school for a short period during 
his apprenticeship, in which, however, he succeeded in mastering 
" Bonnycastle's Mensuration of Superfices and Solids." 

At the age of fifteen he was, after a preliminary trial, apprenticed 
to Frederick D. Sanno to learn steam-engineering. At the end 
of two years, however, this apprenticeship was suddenly termi- 
nated by the business failure of Mr. Sanno. Joseph's indentures 
were cancelled and he was compelled to seek another situation. 
This, owing to his previous experience, he readily found, and also 
secured better terms than a mere beginner could have asked or 
obtained. His second apprenticeship was to James Flint for the 
term of four years. This employer was engaged chiefly in the 
making of cotton machinery, as well as all forms of stationary 
engines. In this work he soon acquired such great proficiency 
that the making of the most delicate machinery was intrusted to 
him, and before he had reached twenty years of age he had been 
raised to the position of foreman of the shop in which some thirty 
men and boys were employed. In this capacity he remained for 
two years after his apprenticeship had ceased, and then entered 
the works of Philip Garret, of Philadelphia, a machinist engaged in 
(346) 



JOSEPH HARRISON, JR. 347 

very fine work, such as jewelers' lathes and presses for bank-note 
engravers, etc. 

In 1833 Aurundius Tiers, of Port Clinton, Pennsylvania, requir- 
ing some machinery in his establishment, employed Mr. Harrison, 
who had then left Mr. Garret's, to make and put it up, which he 
did entirely to the satisfaction of his employer. 

About this time the building of locomotives excited a great 
deal of interest and attention among machinists, as well as the 
people at large. All felt that the railroad was destined to play a 
great part in the development of the country, and that fortunes 
were to be made in the invention and manufacture of rolling-stock. 
In 1834, stimulated by curiosity, he one day visited the shop of 
Long & Morris, who for some time had been engaged in no very 
successful efforts to build locomotive engines — those which they 
did produce usually proving failures upon actual trial. Mr. Har- 
rison here met, to his surprise, his old master, F. D. Sanno, who 
held the position of foreman in the establishment, and whom he 
had not seen for many years. Through the recommendation of 
Mr. Sanno he was offered and accepted a situation, and imme- 
diately began to apply his skill and knowledge to remedying de- 
fects in work which had already been produced, and this with so 
much success as to secure him in two weeks an increase of wages 
and an advance in position in the shop. Here he remained for 
a year and a half, and by practice and observation added much to 
his skill and knowledge as a practical draughtsman and builder of 
engines. 

At this time the firm of Garret & Eastwick were showing con- 
siderable skill as locomotive builders, and in 1835 Mr. Harrison 
entered their employment as foreman. While here he designed 
and built for the Beaver Meadow Railroad Company the engine 
"Samuel D. Ingham," in which were introduced many novel feat- 
ures, among others certain new methods of reversing, chiefly in- 
ventions of Mr. Eastwick, and which were subsequently most suc- 
cessfully used in engines built by Mr. Harrison and his partners 
in Russia. 



348 JOSEPH HARRISON, JR. 

This locomotive, as well as many similar ones, proving success- 
ful, Mr. Harrison, although without capital, was taken into the 
firm, his skill and integrity being considered more than equivalent 
for a moneyed investment. In 1851 the firm turned out the 
famous engine " Gowan and Marx," in which all the improve- 
ments up to that time made were introduced. Among these was 
the use of four driving and four truck-wheels, the invention of Mr. 
Eastwick, and a new mode of equalizing the weight of the driving 
wheels — Harrison's improvement on Eastwick's patent. All 
American passenger engines now use t-hese inventions, the dis- 
covery and introduction of which was due to the ingenuity and 
enterprise of this firm. 

The " Gowan and Marx " proved to be the most powerful engine 
built up to that time. It drew one hundred and one loaded cars 
over the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, for which it had been 
built. Many orders from this and other roads immediately fol- 
lowed, and the reputation of the firm steadily grew. Some of their 
engines, built for the Beaver Meadow Railroad, drew trains up 
higher grades than had ever previously been attempted either in 
Europe or America. 

In 1840 two eminent engineers, Colonel Melnikoff and Colonel 
Kraft, were sent out by the Russian government to examine the 
railroad system of this country. The reputation of the firm of 
Eastwick & Harrison attracted their attention, and on their return 
to Russia, they were invited to undertake the building of locomo- 
tives and other rolling stock for the railroad then about to be built 
from St. Petersburg to Moscow, a distance of four hundred miles. 
After taking Mr. Thomas Winans, of Baltimore, as an additional 
partner, the firm, in December, 1843, concluded to contract with 
the Russian government for the sum of $3,000,000, the work to be 
completed in five years, and immediately established themselves in 
St. Petersburg, as one of the conditions of the contract was, that 
the work was to be done there and by Russian workmen, or at 
least by such as could be found on the spot. The contractors 



JOSEPH HARRISON, JR. 349 

found themselves surrounded with difficulties; they were ignorant 
of the language of the men they were compelled to employ, and 
unfamiliar with the business methods of the government they were 
serving; but with true American determination, and with the most 
absolute integrity of purpose, they began and carried forward their 
work with such energy that it was completed to the entire satis- 
faction of the government, and paid for more than a year in ad- 
vance of the time specified in the contract. 

In the meantime other orders had been received, amounting in 
the aggregate to more tha'n $2,000,000. The most important of 
these was a contract for building a cast-iron bridge over the Neva, 
one of the largest bridges in the world, and which was finished in 
the year 1854. On the opening of this bridge Joseph Harrison, 
Jr., received from the Emperor Nicholas, as a mark of his esteem, 
the ribbon of the Order of St. Ann, to which was attached a mas- 
sive gold medal bearing on its face a portrait of the emperor, and 
on the reverse the motto, in the Russian language, " For zeal." 
Even before this the emperor had given many evidences of his 
favor. In 1847, m company with his son, the Grand Duke Con- 
stantine, Prince Paskewitch, and other high officers of the govern- 
ment, he visited the works of the American contractors in St. 
Petersburg, and, after spending many hours there, sent to each 
member of the firm a splendid diamond ring. 

Before the completion of the first contract a new one was en- 
tered into with Joseph Harrison, Jr., Thomas and William S. 
Winans, to maintain the running order of the rolling stock of the 
St. Petersburg and Moscow Railroad for the period of eleven 
years. This contract was completed in 1862 to the entire satisfac- 
tion of all parties concerned, and Mr. Harrison returned to the 
United States, and to his native city, to enjoy in well-earned 
repose the fruits of his industry. 

But to one of his active mind idleness was not repose, and he 
was speedily engaged in the invention of the boiler which now 
bears his name, and which secures absolute safety against explo- 



350 JOSEPH HARRISON, JR. 

sion. Large numbers of the Harrison boilers are now in use in 
various portions of the United States, and many testimonials as to 
its merits have from time to time been given scientific and indus- 
trial organizations throughout the country. 

Mr. Harrison has thoroughly mastered the whole subject of 
steam-boilers and locomotive engineering, and made many valua- 
ble contributions to the literature of the subject, among others a 
work entitled: "The Locomotive Engine and Philadelphia's share 
in its Early Improvement," published in 1872, with illustrations. 

At home once more, he employed his large wealth in building 
for himself one of the most beautiful residences in the city, with 
homes for his children immediately adjoining. Here, with the 
gems, statuary and pictures purchased abroad, as a nucleus, he 
established the finest private art-gallery in the city. Among the 
treasures which he most highly prized were portraits and busts of 
the Czar and other Russian dignitaries with which he had been 
presented. In art he was a connoisseur of no mean ability, and 
was most liberal in encouraging the talents of native artists. He 
was the owner of some of the finest works of Rothermel, Hamil- 
ton, Read, Richards, May and others; many great canvasses 
adorned the walls of his gallery ; among the most important of 
these were West's " Christ Rejected," and Vanderlyn's "Ariadne." 

Shortly after his return to Philadelphia, while the venerable 
artists Rembrandt Peale and Thomas Sully were still living, he 
gave to each a commission to paint the portrait of the other, and 
when the works were completed, invited the artists to his home, 
where he had gathered a large company of guests to meet them, 
and thus do honor to the two octogenarian representatives of 
American art. 

William Harrison always derived the liveliest satisfaction from 
his recollections of his early career, and ever upheld the dignity 
and honor of his vocation. In a poem addressed to his children 
he sang the praises of iron and iron-workers. He also commis- 
sioned Christian Schuessele to illustrate on canvas the legend of 



JOSEPH HARRISON, JR. 351 

King Solomon and the iron-workers, the legend being that, when 
all the great men of the kingdom had assembled to celebrate the 
completion and dedication of the Temple, a mighty smith, the 
iron-worker, was by King Solomon awarded the place of honor at 
his right hand as having been most useful in the accomplishment 
of the great work. This is the finest work ever painted by 
Schuessele, and is among the finest in the Harrison collection. 

Mr. Harrison was a public-spirited citizen and did much towards 
decorating Fairmount Park, and many of his finest paintings were 
from time to time placed on exhibition in the public art galleries 
of the city. For many years he had been a sufferer from Bright' s 
disease, and of this, on March 27th, 1874, he died. He was mar- 
ried to Sarah Poulterer, December 15th, 1836, and his wife and 
six children survived him. 



EX-GOVERNOR LELAND STANFORD. 

Leland Stanford is best known as the President of the Central 
Pacific Railroad. Besides fche gold and silver kings of the Pacific 
coast, there is another class of magnates who have derived most 
of their wealth from early connection wiih the Central Pacific 
Railroad. Ex-Governor Stanford is one of these ; and he is now 
valued at rather over than below $20,000,000, which for all practi- 
cal purposes is just as good as $100,000,000. He is the fortunate 
possessor of fourteen thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven 
shares of Central Pacific stock, valued at $10,000,000; he has 
$5,000,000 in the Southern Pacific, and is interested in other rail- 
roads to the value of $2,000,000. In the inventory of taxable 
personal property the diamonds and other gems of himself and 
family amount to nearly $400,000. On one occasion, while in 
London, when Mr. Stanford and wife visited the theatre, Mrs. 
Stanford wore diamonds to the value of $100,000. The value of 
the real estate owned by Mr. Stanford is not accurately known. 
He also has an extensive interest in the Golden Gate Woollen 
Mills in San Francisco. A specimen of the fine work of this in- 
dustry he presented as a memento to the Marquis of Lome and 
the Princess Louisa, on their recent visit to California, in the shape 
of a pair of exceedingly fine, soft blankets, very suitable for the 
climate of Canada. Mr. Stanford never soiled his hands with 
the pick and shovel of the early emigrants to California; he be- 
lieved there was money to be made in other ways, and he bided 
his time, commencing his business life in California as a merchant 
in the vicinity of a mining town in Placer county. The profits at 
that time on all kinds of assorted goods were enormous, and the 
farther the miner was from the port of San Francisco the more he 
(352) 




LELAND STANFORD. 



EX-GOVERNOR LELAND STANFORD. 353 

had to pay for clothes, implements of labor, spirits, tobacco, and 
for all the necessaries of life, as well as the few luxuries which 
could be transported inland. Money doubled itself quickly in the 
hands of those early traders who followed in the trail of the miner, 
and Mr. Stanford's capital soon increased sufficiently for him 
to venture on competition with the larger dealers in the port. 
Here, in San Francisco, he entered into partnership with an estab- 
lished firm in the wholesale trade, in which he was equally success- 
ful ; but he had not yet found his true sphere. Politics was un- 
doubtedly his forte, and, since his residence in the city, he had in- 
terested himself in both local and State politics, sometimes acting 
with one party, and occasionally, when local feeling set strongly 
the other way, acting with the opposite. But, as the crisis of the 
country approached, and statesmen, politicians and demagogues 
began to take sides in the approaching conflict, Mr. Stanford had 
the shrewdness to seize the current at its flood, became a pro- 
nounced Republican, and, in consequence, received the nomination 
in 1861 for Governor for the State of California. He was now in 
his element ; and here, while acting in a broad spirit for the best 
interests of the State, he also laid the foundations for the fortune 
since acquired in railroad stocks and bonds. From the first he 
favored the building of the Central Pacific Railroad, and worked 
judiciously to forward its completion. 

More fortunate than some of those early connected with the 
scheme of uniting the West to the East, he has known how to use 
his opportunities to his own benefit, which those early workers to 
the same end, G. D. Judah, L. A. Upson, editor of the Sacramento 
Union, and its proprietors, Anthony Morrill & Larkin, failed to 
profit by. In the early days of the civil war, 1 861-2, mining was 
not as profitable as it had been, and the agricultural prospects of the 
State were very low. Two seasons of destructive floods, suc- 
ceeded by one of excessive drought, had discouraged the farming 
population ; the statesmen and capitalists of the State were look- 
ing about for sources of investment, and they first thought of mak- 
23 



354 EX-GOVERNOR LELAND STANFORD. 

ing California a manufacturing commonwealth ; but what was the 
use of manufactures, without an available market for the produc- 
tions of the loom, or the artisan's shop. The obvious relief from 
the dilemma was a railroad which should connect the Golden State 
with the densely populated cities of the eastern section of the 
country. Strange to say, it was Sacramento county, and not San 
Mateo, which took the initiative in the movement. Sacramento had 
suffered immensely by the floods, and the road was a matter of life 
or death to people whose only hope of future prosperity was a 
market for their productions. This comparatively poor county 
subscribed $300,000 to the road. Leland Stanford was prominent 
among the San Franciscans in offering aid and sympathy to the 
dwellers in the valley ; and his political position enabled him to 
give effective help by his representations to Congress— for it was 
never deemed possible that private enterprise could carry through 
such a gigantic work. Subscriptions were made to show the 
genuine spirit of the people, but the Central Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany could have gone but a little way without the. loan of the 
nation's credit, which was obtained by the representations of such 
men as Leland Stanford ; and Congress was induced to advance 
the enormous sum of $25,885,000 to the projectors of the western 
portion of this transcontinental road. This bill was pushed through 
Congress as "a war measure," and it is not difficult to see how 
those who were in the magic circle from the start had ample oppor- 
tunities of accumulating immense fortunes. Mr. Stanford was one 
of these. He furnished the brains of the company, and for twenty 
years was one of the leading figures in it. His peculiar genius 
enabled him to use both political parties as best served his purpose; 
and politics was intimately mixed with the management of the 
Central Pacific, just as it was with the Union Pacific; the railroad 
kings on each side of the continent emerging from the manage- 
ment with colossal fortunes, and some of them with untarnished 
names. He is described as having by all odds the strongest face 
of any of the Central Pacific managers! His expression is a 



EX-GOVERNOR LELAND STANFORD. 355 

curiously absorbing one, and he has been seen to sit through a 
roaring farce and a tragedy the same evening, without the slight- 
est gleam of interest on his heavy features. 

One tangible evidence of Mr. Stanford's wealth is the handsome 
residence which the ex-governor has erected on " Nob Hill," the 
crowning elevation at the head of California street. It is the cost- 
liest house on the Pacific coast, and stands on an eminence 300 
feet high — 220 feet higher than Murray Hill in New York. This 
hill rises very abruptly from the vicinity of Kearney street, and is 
at present the most fashionable site for palatial residences. A 
stranger to the place would wonder how the dwellers on this 
eminence reached their domiciles ; and not a few have been as 
perplexed as was the Chinaman, when he saw the cars ascending 
and descending without any visible means of traction, and his de- 
scription is too good to be lost in the ephemeral literature of the 
periodical press. Standing on the corner of Sansone and Cali- 
fornia streets, he thus expressed his astonishment: "Melican man's 
wagon no pushee, no pullee ; all same, go top side hill like 
flashee ! " Horses can ascend Nob Hill, but the residents habit- 
ually use the endless cable cars, whose machinery is out of sight 
of the casual observer. Mr. Stanford's, like the other expensive 
mansions on Nob Hill, has elaborate and costly foundations, or 
lower stories of stone, but the superstructures are of wood. This 
is a necessary precaution against the slight shocks of earthquake 
with which that region is not infrequently visited. In many cases, 
the terraced approaches to these elegant residences have cost as 
much as the buildings ; rocks have been cut through, side hills 
buttressed, and artificial devices to make the approaches corre- 
spond in elegance to the gorgeous homes of the railroad kings, 
have eventuated in the expenditure of millions of dollars. 

Stanford's mansion is surrounded by the most expensive wall in 
the city. The rear of the lot is fully forty feet above the level of 
Pine street, and this immense mass of earth, which is soaked regu- 
larly every day with water to keep the turf green and fresh, must 



356 EX-GOVERNOR LELAND STANFORD. 

be held up by the great wall. It is built of granite and Angel 
Island stone — hard and blue, and impervious to the elements. It 
is of great thickness at the base, and is anchored by huge iron 
girders, which are riveted into the solid rock of the hillside. It is 
only about a year and a half ago that the original wall, much higher 
than the present structure, began to show signs of weakening. It 
was torn down, and the present wall, reduced in height and greatly 
strengthened, was substituted for it. The place now looks remote 
from ordinary human interest, and this impression is strengthened 
by the padlocked gates and closely-drawn blinds. The house is 
deserted about ten months in the year, and generally wears the 
look of isolation which is so characteristic of the marble palace of 
A. T. Stewart, on Fifth avenue, New York. 

More recently Mr. Stanford has come to New York city, and 
his business office is on the eight-story front of the " Mills build- 
ing" on Broad street. Not many of our millionaires have turned 
authors; but ex-Governor Stanford is virtually the author of a 
most interesting book on the "Action of the Horse in Motion," 
although two other persons took a share in its production. The 
origin of its inception is as follows : While in California about 
1870-71, Mr. Stanford possessed among his numerous fine horses 
a remarkably fast trotter named Occident. This animal had a 
most remarkable stride, twenty-three to twenty-three and a half 
feet, and watching this extraordinary animal, his owner became 
convinced that at certain instants the entire body of the horse was 
free of the ground, but so rapid was the motion, that it was diffi- 
cult for lookers-on to agree as to the fact. In 1872 a photograph- 
ist named Muybridge was employed by Mrs. Stanford to take 
views of the house and grounds, and the ex-eovernor talked with 
this artist as to the possibility of taking instantaneous views of 
moving objects, hoping that his favorite trotter might thus be 
taken, and the question of the precise action of " the horse in mo- 
tion " be demonstrated on the photographer's plate. The artist 
thought it could not be done, that a "blur would be the only re- 



EX-GOVERNOR LELAND STANFORD. 357 

suit." Mr. Stanford, however, insisted that with the very best 
apparatus, and an extremely sensitive plate, that the thing was 
feasible ; and he offered to be at all the necessary expense to 
secure such improved plate and camera. 

Among the other ingenious men employed in the car-shops of 
the Central Pacific Railroad Company was a Mr. Montague and a 
Mr. Pruiere, whom Mr. Stanford engaged to assist Mr. Muybridge 
in constructing an improved instrument, and the result was the 
taking of a picture of a horse in motion in about the fiftieth part 
of a second. The picture was imperfect and somewhat obscure, 
but it satisfied Mr. Stanford that the horse was really entirely off 
the ground when the impression was taken ; but, as there was only 
one instrument used, and one picture obtained, it could not be de- 
cided how long the horse remained without touching the ground. 

After an absence from California of several years, the artist re- 
turned to the Golden State, and was again employed on the Stan- 
ford estate, taking views of the improvements which had been 
made ; he also announced that when in London he had learned 
that very highly-improved cameras had been made there, but 
being very expensive he had not provided himself with one. Mr. 
Stanford then authorized him to send to London and procure the 
very best at his expense. This was done, but the next picture of 
Occident showed a different position, which, however, did not mili- 
tate against Mr. Stanford's theory, but suggested the idea to the 
latter that a series of cameras should be used to give the entire 
action of a horse in rapid motion, and not one portion of the gait 
only, as must always be the case with a single instrument, and he 
again authorized Mr. Muybridge to procure twelve instruments. 
The twelve cameras came, and were so perfectly arranged that a 
view r was taken in about the five-thousandth part of a second. 
Afterwards twenty-four cameras were used. The most elaborate 
preparations were made to secure absolute perfection ; a building 
was specially erected, backgrounds arranged and the machinery 
to control the operation, so as to ensure the cameras doing their 



358 EX-GOVERNOR LELAND STANFORD. 

work in harmony, was carefully adjusted. On testing the arrange- 
ment it was found that the speed of the clock-like movement was 
not in precise accord with the speed of the animal, and Mr. Stan- 
ford then suggested that only the rapidity of electricity would be 
found sufficient. This idea, we believe, originated with Mr. A. N. 
Town, a well-known judge on the race-courses of the West. 
Again Mr. Stanford employed Mr. Muybridge to procure the 
services of practical electricians to assist in taking the pictures. 
To measure the stride of the horses, both in running and trotting, 
and other purposes, marked boards, measuring feet and inches, 
were laid between the cameras and the track. All the experi- 
ments and the services of those employed were made at the 
expense of the ex-governor, who was determined, if his theory 
proved correct, to give the results to the world. 

When Mr. Stanford had definitely made up his mind to publish 
his book, he employed Dr. Stillman to assist him. Several horses 
were killed and dissected by the doctor so as to secure perfectly 
accurate illustrations for this interesting work, which was really 
written by the latter under the inspiration of his employer, Mr. 
Muybridge being still employed to take photographs under Dr. 
Stillman's direction. The machine combining the twenty-four cam- 
eras operated by electricity was called a "Zoopraxiscope." This, 
though the combined result of Mr. Stanford's ideas and consulta- 
tions with several others, was patented in the name of Mr. Muy- 
bridge at the ex-governor's expense. And, to further protect all 
of this artist's rights, he allowed him to have an interest in the copy- 
right describing it, though a third person employed by Mr. Stan- 
ford might also have claimed some interest in it. This was Mr. 
William Hahn, an artist from Dusseldorf, who drew from the 
photographs all of the anatomical pictures. 

This book, a The Horse in Motion," is a very valuable contribu- 
tion to science. It is a large, handsome quarto, containing over 
one hundred full-page illustrations, some of the pages containing 
many separate figures showing the position of the limbs and the 



EX-GOVERNOR LELAND STANFORD. 359 

general action of the horse (and some other quadrupeds) in run- 
ning, trotting, leaping, walking, etc. These are a most curious 
study, and fully confirm Mr. Stanford's theory, that, both in run- 
ning and trotting, the horse is occasionally entirely free of the 
ground, a fact never before demonstrated, though sometimes dis- 
cussed by turfmen and others. There is also a series of twelve 
colored plates showing the osseous and muscular development of 
the horse. These pictures were executed by a process known as 
photo-engraving. Several classes of persons will find much 
matter for thought in this volume, but to none has the revela- 
tions of the camera been so much of a surprise as to the artist 
world. One famous painter, looking critically at this collec- 
tion of horses in motion, with an accent of deepest chagrin ex- 
claimed, " Why, there never has been a horse painted correctly 
since the world began." And, in fact, he was nearly right. The 
conventional horse of the painter bears no resemblance, in the 
action of its limbs, to the realistic horse of the camera. The ex- 
periments were mostly made in 1878, on Mr. Stanford's private 
track at his country residence, Palo Alto, in California. The elec- 
tric current was applied to open and close the shutters before the 
cameras, no other mode being found quick enough. The cameras 
were placed at the distance of twelve inches apart. 



MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 

The elements of romance, picturesqueness or the astonishing 
are all lacking in the career of Mr. Roberts. His was not a 
sudden leap from poverty to wealth, nor does his early career 
partake of the marvellous or adventurous. He had no wild frolics 
in his youth; no years of humble toil, like many of our California 
millionaires ; in fact, there has been nothing very peculiar in his 
life, to distinguish at least its earlier portion, from that of thou- 
sands of business men throughout the country, and yet the name 
of Marshall O. Roberts was one distinguished by the unanimous 
respect of the community far above that of the great majority who 
started out in life on an apparently equal footing with himself. 
He was recognized as a man of sterling worth, whose death was 
a loss to the community ; a man whose place could not readily be 
filled, and whose steady, progressive prosperity culminated in a 
fortune approximating to $10,000,000. Though there is nothing 
startling in his experiences, it may yet be well to follow the steps 
by which he attained to his social pre-eminence and pecuniary 
success. His early years were surrounded by favorable environ- 
ments. His father was a highly respected and esteemed physician, 
named Owen Roberts, who came to this country from Wales and 
settled in the city of New York in 1798. The subject of this 
sketch was his youngest son, and was born at the paternal resi- 
dence in Oliver street on the 2 2d of March, 18 14. He received 
a good education and would have been sent to college, his father 
wishing him to adopt his own profession. But the young man's 
tastes did not run that way; he preferred a mercantile life, and 
after leaving school engaged as a clerk with a grocer in Goenties 
slip ; shortly after he secured a position with a ship chandler. He 
(360) 



MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 361 

had not mistaken his vocation ; he took an interest in his em- 
ployer's business ; was promptly in his place, active, alert, indus- 
trious, faithful to every duty, economical and careful in his habits; 
a shrewd observer too of all the people he had to deal with ; affable 
and obliging, he made friends and saved money at the same time, 
so that even before he was of age he found himself in a position 
to start in business for himself — in the same line as his employer. 
But the ordinary routine and profits of the chandler's shop did 
not fill the measure of his mercantile ambition, and two years later, 
in 1837, ne bid for and obtained a contract to supply the navy de- 
partment with oil — whale oil was used at that time even for light- 
houses. He did well with this, and his success highly encouraged 
him to seek a wider sphere for his future operations. Like all 
the successful men of our time, we might add of any age, he was 
not afraid of new ideas. Steam and anthracite coal were then 
coming to the front as material factors in the commerce of the 
country, and Mr. Roberts decided not to be left behind in making 
them tenders to his profit. He was among the first to help on 
the new era of " palace steamers " for the North river, building one 
of the finest boats for that service, which was long and favorably 
known to the travelling community as the " Hendrik Hudson." 
From steamboating to the railroad was a natural transition, and 
from organizing railroad companies to an interest in coal mines 
was an almost inevitable sequence. He was one of the earliest 
friends of the Erie Railroad and did much to help forward that 
great work, and at the same time put his energies into the develop- 
ment of the Scranton coal region, with such good judgment and 
success that in the result there were opened new vistas of profit to 
his discerning and prophetic eye. 

At this time Mr. Roberts was in close friendly and business 
relations with Moses Taylor — a name known to every merchant 
of New York ; and these two friends, with other allies, perceiving 
that the great coal region must have better freighting facilities > 
to connect its productions with the future consumers, projected 



362 MARSHALL 0. ROBERTS. 

the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, and time has 
proved the wisdom of that enterprise, the stock of that railroad 
to-day being among the steadiest and best-paying in the market. 
Other roads, as feeders to this, received the benefit of his business 
talents and financial aid. With their various projects on hand, 
he had long previously enlarged his original business into that of 
merchant shipping ; he sent out cargoes in different directions, and 
with such a just idea of adaptation to the different markets that 
his investments proved almost universally successful and added 
largely to his wealth. No sooner had the new trade sprung up 
with the settlers on the Pacific coast than Mr. Roberts was ready 
to take a hand in that enterprise also. He was the first to make 
a contract with the United States government to convey the mails 
to California via the Isthmus of Panama. With him were asso- 
ciated in this enterprise Messrs. Prosper M. and Robert C. Wet- 
more, Howland, Aspinwall, George Law and some other capitalists. 
This company was known as the " United States Ship Company," 
and it undertook to convey the mails from New York to Aspin- 
wall, with a sub-arrangement for the Pacific Mail Steamship Com- 
pany to transfer them from Panama to San Francisco; Mr. Roberts 
was a heavy stockholder and director, George Law being made 
president. This arrangement continued for four years, when Mr. 
Roberts secured a controlling interest in the stock ; Mr. Law with- 
drew, and the former was chosen president. Of course other com- 
mercial interests were combined with this mail service. Another 
line of steamers was created as aids to this main enterprise, ply- 
ing between New Orleans, Havana and Aspinwall. Quite a fleet 
of steamers was built, large sea-going vessels, which were after- 
wards destined to patriotic uses by the course of events a few 
years later. It was this combination which Commodore Vander- 
bilt attacked, and finally forced to sell out — an account of which is 
given elsewhere. 

Mr. Roberts having withdrawn from the " Pacific Mail " enter- 
prise, found himself at the outbreak of the civil war with a number 



MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 363 

of these fine large steamers on his hands. He did not hesitate ; 
clearness of vision as to present circumstances and the near future, 
with prompt decisive action, was a marked characteristic of the 
man. There was no doubt in his mind what course to take ; 
loyal to the core, he also had that prescience which indicated to 
him the patriotic course would in the end prove the paying course. 
His first action was highly commendable. When Fort Sumter 
was assailed by the Confederates, and Major Anderson with the 
United States troops was besieged and in want of supplies, Mr. 
Roberts fitted up his steamer the " Star of the West " with pro- 
visions and sent to their relief. That the commander was unable 
to execute his commission does not detract from the good inten- 
tion of Mr. Roberts. A still more munificent act was his raising 
at his own expense one thousand men, which he sent in his fine 
steamer the "America" to Fortress Monroe to reinforce the gar- 
rison there. These generous gifts naturally propitiated the gov- 
ernment and drew attention to the fact that Mr. Roberts had many 
steamers to dispose of, and as the United States was sadly in 
need of transport vessels a market was soon found for them, and 
the advantage was mutual. Mr. Roberts also showed his desire 
to sustain the government in another practical way, and which 
some persons at that period thought a great risk, by purchasing a 
large quantity of United States bonds when below par (at 90) ; 
but in this, too, good feeling and good judgment were combined ; 
the shrewd Stephen Girard of Philadelphia did the same thing 
when the government was in a far more desperate strait, during 
the war of 181 2-14. 

But perhaps there has been no public enterprise which required 
in its projectors more of the elements of faith, perseverance and 
courage, than that of laying the Atlantic cable. When this grand 
work was first mooted of course there was no experience (on so 
large a scale) by which the company could be guided. Science 
was certain of its theory, but in practice what obstacles might not 
arise ? How much time and money must necessarily be expended 



364 MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 

in experiments ! and then, would it ever pay ? That is the ques- 
tion, on the probabilities of which every business man says "Yes" 
or " No ; " we have said Mr. Roberts was never afraid of new ideas, 
and this one of immediate communication with the Old World 
struck him favorably. So the question, would it pay ? He had 
only to recall his own experience, and, remembering the numer- 
ous occasions when, as shipping merchant and on other business 
matters, it would have been to his interest to have paid large sums 
for early advices as to the state of foreign markets, he naturally 
concluded that other merchants and financiers must have had simi- 
lar experiences. Here then was a whole class who would use the 
cable-. In addition, there was die increase in immigration, which 
formed one favorable factor, and still more, the fashion of Ameri- 
can travel to Europe, which would make the cable something more 
than a luxury — a necessity. In brief, Mr. Roberts went heart and 
soul into the enterprise of connecting the two hemispheres by the 
sensitive electric cord; and if the first experiment was a stunning 
disappointment, and other disasters followed, these only stimulated 
him and his more prominent co-workers to overcome the difficul- 
ties ; and it eventually paid. It is the men of quiet courage who 
have everywhere subdued nature, and wrought the miracles of 
modern civilization. 

The next object of importance which occupied the thought and 
energies of Mr. Roberts was the building of the Texas Pacific 
Railroad, and in this he was associated with the well-known Colo- 
nel Thomas A. Scott. In this project he put nearly $2,000,000; 
then, at the other end of the Union, in the North, and even in 
Canada, he had large interests in other roads. After close in- 
vestigation we have found no record of his judgment being at 
fault in any of these investments. He had a sagacity for business 
affairs amounting almost to the surety of instinct. In addition to 
all these other interests, Mr. Roberts was also a large owner of 
real estate, his property of this kind lying in the most fashionable 
part of the city. 



MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 365 

In politics Mr. Roberts had not the same success as in business. 
Commencing- life as an ardent adherent of the Whig party, he 
possessed the confidence and esteem of its most eminent leaders, 
and in national affairs he often sat in confidential council with 
Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and more particularly those Whig 
statesmen prominent in his own State. It is said that his name 
was frequently proposed for public nominations, but that he almost 
always declined to permit it to be used, though on two occasions 
he did, and was defeated. But in this connection we may mention 
that two of his earliest and most familiar friends, the brothers 
Wetmore, were very successful in politics ; one of these was a 
Democrat and one a Whig, so that either the one or the other was 
usually in office. It was under the administration of President 
Tyler that one of the Wetmores was naval officer of the port of 
New York, and gave to young Roberts a very profitable contract 
for furnishing the supplies needed in that department; and this 
may be said to have been the starting-point from which his future 
fortune was made. It was in 1853 that Mr. Roberts permitted 
himself to be nominated for Congress, by the then moribund Whig 
party ; that he was beaten by the Democratic candidate was no 
fault of his ; probably no other Whig would have had any better 
chance of election at that period. After the dissolution of the 
Whig party Mr. Roberts naturally gravitated towards the "Free 
Soil " faction, which finally developed into the " Republican " party; 
and when the first National Convention of the adherents of the 
latter were called to meet in Philadelphia in 1856, he was present 
as a delegate. This convention nominated John C. Fremont for 
the Presidency. During the civil war Mr. Roberts was a per- 
sonal friend of President Lincoln, and, as has been narrated, made 
every effort to sustain the Administration. When the assassina- 
tion of President Lincoln occurred, he immediately forwarded his 
check to Mrs. Lincoln for $10,000, which was his part toward the 
fund of $100,000 which the merchants of New York proposed to 
raise for her benefit. 



366 MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 

It was in 1865 that Mr. Roberts was nominated for Mayor of 
New York ; the time was unfortunate, as, instead of one antagon- 
ist, he had to contend against three, of which John S. Hoffman, a 
very popular politician, was one. Mr. Roberts was the candidate 
of what was known as the " Union " party in local politics, and was 
also indorsed by the "War Democrats. " Mr. John Hecker was 
nominated by the Citizens' Association, and Mr. C. G. Gunther by 
another faction, the McKeon Democracy, while Mr. Hoffman rep- 
resented the old-time " Bourbon " ' Democracy, and proved the 
winning man. Yet the result showed very plainly the high estima- 
tion in which Mr. Roberts was held by his fellow-citizens. The 
total number of votes cast at this election was 80,523, of which Mr. 
Hoffman received 32,945; Mr. Roberts, 31,611; Mr. Hecker, 
10,170, and Mr. Gunther, 5,797. It will thus be seen that while 
Mr. Roberts only fell short some thirteen hundred votes of an 
election, two of his opponents combined did not equal his con- 
stituents by 14,743. Politics was not Marshall O. Roberts' role. 
He never could adapt himself to the part or demean himself to 
the practices which sometimes appear necessary to conciliate cer- 
tain portions of the voting population of New York ; but he was 
sustained even on this occasion, by what we are accustomed to call 
the " best people." That he was not an expert in ferreting out 
the tergiversations of the scheming, unscrupulous politicians who 
formed the "Tweed Ring" in New York, must be presumed from 
the fact, that he was one of those who signed the "whitewashing" 
report on Controller Connelly, when that official's accounts were 
investigated, just previous to the fall election of 1870. His truest 
life was in his business transactions, but it was not all of his life ; 
he was a generous patron of art, and in the family and social life 
considered a model man. In addition to all the other enterprises 
and forms of business with which he was identified, Mr. Roberts 
acted for many years as President of the North River Bank, of 
New York. 

From his earliest youth he delighted in pictures, but during the 



MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 2>6j 

first half of his life there was comparatively little which could be 
called true art in this country, and the importation of foreign paint- 
ings was in very unreliable hands ; hence, our amateurs in New 
York, who trusted to the great names with which foreign pictures 
were almost invariably labelled, were often sadly imposed upon. 
But Marshall O. Roberts was not of this class ; he did not buy 
pictures on account of their indorsement by dealers, but he bought 
what pleased his own eye — what gave him pleasure ; hence, if in 
his first essays he did not always select a picture which would 
meet the approval of the experienced connoisseur, he was at least 
not deceived, it suited him, and that was enough ; but, by the time 
he was located in his fine residence on Fifth avenue (two large 
houses combined), his taste had improved by experience, and the 
facilities for procuring really fine paintings were greatly enhanced.; 
while native talent, which he really liked best to patronize, was 
developing with rapid strides. He had for many years before his 
death one of the most valuable collections in the city, the number 
in his gallery being over 300, and its estimated value over 
$750,000. Mr. Roberts bought his pictures to keep and to enjoy; 
he never had the idea paramount with so many connoisseurs, of 
buying paintings on speculation, and waiting for a rise in their 
value to sell again. Some specimens of his collection have been 
purchased to oblige a needy artist, for it was very difficult for him 
to refuse appeals of this sort ; and it is well to remember, that if 
an artist is poor, it does not follow that his work is. Mr. Roberts 
looked upon his pictures as he did upon his friends, and took a 
real human interest in them. On more than one occasion he has 
been advised to " weed out " his gallery, but he was too much 
attached to his pictures to think of this; they all had a history, and 
some had become very dear souvenirs of the old days when he 
was not a millionaire. He himself said of some of his early pur- 
chases : " They are to me like old friends, some of whom have not 
been successful in life; but I do not therefore disown them. I like 
them to come and see me, even if they are shabby, and there are 



368 MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 

shabby pictures that I like too ; I shall never sell them." But the 
latter-day pictures are not of this class. The very best of the 
American and foreign art have a place by the side of these "shabby 
old friends," and perhaps nothing better than this regard for his 
early selections shows to advantage the essential qualities of the 
man, who has no sham about him ; and whose old friends, even if 
not successful financially, could rely with perfect confidence that 
they would not be cast aside in favor of some pretentious parvenu. 
Mr. Roberts was most liberal to the public in the use of his gal- 
lery, permission to visit it being freely accorded to any who 
applied. He was equally free in loaning them for public exhibi- 
tions, for charitable or festival purposes. American artists lost 
an appreciative and generous patron when Marshall O. Roberts 
died, and could visit their studios no more. In the Metropolitan 
Museum he took great interest, and we believe contributed to all 
of its " Loan Exhibitions." At the time of his death, several of 
his choicest and most valuable pictures, both foreign and American, 
adorned its walls. 

Mr. Roberts was a member of the Union League Club, which 
he joined principally from motives of patriotism when it was first 
organized; but he was not a habitue of that, or any club; his tastes 
were essentially domestic, and his pleasure was found at home. 
He was thrice married. His first wife, whom he married early in 
life, was a retiring lady, of whom society saw little. His second 
wife was the widow of Mr. Irving Van Wart, of Hartford, Conn. 
She was a refined and accomplished woman, particularly active in 
schemes of Christian benevolence and charity. Through her 
efforts mainly was organized those two excellent societies in New 
York city, the Women's Christian Association, and the Home for 
Working Girls, and to place this on firm basis, Mr. Roberts do- 
nated $40,000. He was equally fortunate in the selection of his 
third wife, who still survives him. She was a Miss Endicott, a 
direct descendant of Governor Endicott, of Massachusetts — one 
of the original "Mayflower" stock. This lady is also active in 



MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 369 

every good word and work, and an ornament of society. Mr. 
Roberts left four children — a son and daughter by the first wife, a 
daughter by the second wife, and a young son by the last. 

The will which disposed of so large a property was anxiously 
looked for, and scanned by various associations which hoped to 
profit by bequests. These, however, proved to be small in com- 
parison with the liberal manner in which he donated money in his 
lifetime. The great bulk of his property went to his immediate 
family. To his wife, he left his extensive mansion on Fifth avenue 
and Eighteenth street, and an income of $40,00*0 annually. To 
his eldest son and daughter, and the daughter of his second wife 
(Mrs. Ames Van Wart), he bequeathed an income of $12,000 a 
year; while a codicil gives to the young son of his widow a pro- 
vision of $6,000 per annum after he shall have attained his fifteenth 
year, and $12,000 per annum after attaining his majority; he is 
also made the residuary legatee. The sum of $14,000 was left in 
legacies to various religious and charitable societies, including one 
to the Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church, in which he wor- 
shipped during the latter years of his life ; for many years pre- 
viously he was an attendant at the Broadway Tabernacle. 

Mr. Roberts had attained the age of sixty-six years the spring 
before his death, which occurred in 1880 at Saratoga, where he 
was spending part of the season with several members of his 
family. He suffered an attack of apoplexy, which he survived 
only a few days. His funeral, which took place in New York 
city, was attended by the most eminent persons, both from social 
circles and political ranks ; the venerable Peter Cooper (since de- 
ceased) and the Hon. William M. Evarts were among the dis- 
tinguished pall-bearers. Seldom has New York witnessed a more 
numerous gathering of men of solid worth than on this occasion. 
Many men have strongly attached friends who have also bitter 
enemies, but, in regard to Mr. Roberts, there appears to have 
been no dissentient voices. His worth was universally recognized, 
and his public spirit, private chanties and unostentatious life re- 
24 



3/0 MARSHALL O. ROBERTS. 

ceived full recognition from all sources. Even in what some would 
think an unimportant matter as a test of character, his friend, 
President Arthur, found occasion to eulogize him; he said: "I 
have known him and his family for nearly a quarter of a century, 
and have always admired, not only his business ability, his charita- 
ble disposition, and the good old Whig and true Republican 
principles which he so zealously espoused, but also, that at election 
times he always came promptly forward, unasked, and deposited his 
generous contribution." Could a politician's praise be more em- 
phatic ? 

In reviewing the life of Mr. Roberts, the query arises, What it 
was in the mental composition of the man which enabled him to 
outstrip in the race of life so many of his early friends and fellow- 
citizens who started with equally good prospects at the same 
period of time? They enjoyed the same general advantages which 
he possessed, and he was subjected to the same fluctuations in 
trade — the " good " and the " bad " times, etc. — in which all others 
participated. In considering this point, we find a partial explana- 
tion at least in this fact, that he possessed one characteristic which 
is an integral part of the composition of all of our successful 
men ; namely, the ability to grasp several subjects at once without 
confusion or distraction of mind. He had what we may call an 
expansive brain-power, which can take in all the necessary details 
of foreign commerce, of railroad projects, or other financial 
schemes, without overtaxing the nervous system. Those who 
cannot bear the strain give way, and those who can succeed. 
Another element which Mr. Roberts possessed was good physical 
health, and this will be found in nearly every case among our 
eminently successful men, who are either natural stalwarts, or else 
lithe, wiry men like Jay Gould, with nerves of steel and not over- 
burdened with the emotional sentiments. 



JOHN F. SLATER. 

The name of Slater is indelibly connected with the manufactur- 
ing interests of New England — we may say with the whole country, 
for to the ancestors of the present John F. Slater is due in very 
great measure the enormous development of the cotton-spinning 
and weaving interest in the United States. Mr. Samuel Slater, an 
uncle of the modern philanthropist, was a native of Derbyshire, 
England, where he learned the art of cotton-spinning from a 
partner of the famous inventor, Arkwright. He came to this 
country in 1 789, and, learning that an attempt was being made in 
Providence to introduce the manufacture here, but that, through 
imperfect machinery, it had hitherto proved a failure, he sought 
out the principal operators, Messrs. Almy & Brown, and entered 
into an engagement with them to perfect their machinery and 
oversee the work. This he accomplished, although he had brought 
with him neither models nor drawings, calling alone on his native 
genius and his retentive memory to reproduce the machinery in 
use by Arkwright. He also added many improvements of his 
own. Three years later he erected a mill on his own account at 
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and afterwards another at Cumberland. 

In 1803 ms brother John followed him to this country. He 
brought with him all the latest knowledge of improved machinery 
in England, including the newly-invented Crompton mule, which, 
with the recent introduction of the spinning-jenny and power- 
loom, gave a wonderful impetus to the production of cotton-cloth 
in New England. In 1833 the two Slater brothers bought out 
Almy & Brown, with whom they had been in partnership, and 
established mill-works on land which they had bought about 

(370 



372 JOHN F. SLATER. 

thirteen miles north of Providence. This was the nucleus of the 
future manufacturing town, since become famous as a centre of 
cotton-weaving, known as Slaterville. Here the elder John Slater 
lived until his death, in 1843. He and his brother had long before 
bought out another cotton-mill in the township of Griswold, Con- 
necticut, since re-baptized under the name of Jewett City. John 
also owned similar property in the neighboring town of Hopeville. 
While Samuel Slater was the practical founder of the nourishing 
town of Webster, Massachusetts, which is composed of three 
manufacturing villages, started into life by his enterprise, he was 
the first person in the world to manufacture cotton sewing-thread, 
linen thread having been previously used. He also established the 
famous Amoskeag mills in New Hampshire. His only surviving son, 
Horatio, has added the manufacture of woollens to that of cottons. 
John Slater left three children: John F., born in 181 2, and the 
subject of this sketch ; William S., now President of the Worces- 
ter and Providence railroad, and a daughter. The boys were 
thoroughly trained to a knowledge of the mill business, to which 
John F. early proved himself an adept. Before he was of age, he 
was placed in charge of the mill at Jewett City, and in this almost 
exclusively manufacturing village he resided, entirely devoted to 
business until 1840, when he removed to Norwich, which continued 
henceforth to be his permanent home. After the death of his 
father, he formed a partnership with his brother, William S., con- 
tinuing to run the mills at Hopeville and Jewett City, subsequently 
buying up the mill property of their uncle Samuel's heirs, and 
greatly extending the business at Slaterville. The partnership of 
the brothers continued until 1872, when they divided their interests, 
John F. retaining the control at Jewett City, and that which he had 
separately organized with Edward P. Taft and others on the She- 
tucket river, near Norwich ; this latter company was incorporated 
in 1869, with a capital of $1,500,000, and of this Mr. John F. Slater 
was elected president, which office he still holds; he is also one of 
the heaviest stockholders. This company built a new mill called 



JOHN F. SLATER. ^>73 

the Ponemah, in which the machinery was started in November, 
1 87 1. The Slater cotton-mills were all built in a peculiar manner, 
being only one story in height, but of immense length, so that at 
first glance one might take them for ropewalks. This Ponemah 
mill was nearly a quarter of a mile long, and under no other single 
roof is there so much cotton goods made anywhere in the country. 
The class of goods which is manufactured there includes percales, 
Victoria lawns, Nainsook checks and stripes, and ordinary plain 
muslins. 

Mr. Slater undoubtedly inherited a wonderful talent for under- 
standing and operating machinery ; there was no part of the pro- 
cess of reducing raw cotton into a serviceable textile fabric that he 
did not thoroughly understand, and one of his prominent charac- 
teristics was the attention which he bestowed upon little things ; 
it was the " little imperfections," which many others would have 
overlooked, which he said made the difference between first-class 
and second-class " cuts." He wanted no second-class in any of his 
departments. For over half a century Mr. Slater has been iden- 
tified with the manufacturing interests of New England, and from 
the successful prosecution of the cotton-cloth industry the bulk 
of his fortune was made, but he availed himself of other sources ; 
for many years has dealt freely in railroad and other stocks, and 
for years has been accounted the largest holder of such securities 
in the State. He has been frequently elected director of different 
railroads, but has always declined to accept, not looking upon such 
a position as a merely nominal honor, but as involving practical 
duties, which he felt he had not the time to fulfil. 

In the spring of 1882 Mr. Slater made known his intention of 
devoting a solid million of dollars towards the education of the 
colored race at the South ; but he may be said to have contem- 
plated this step ever since the conclusion of the war. Realizing 
the menace to society by the admission of a recently servile race 
to the privilege of the franchise, and equality before the law, if they 
remained in ignorance, and likewise appreciating the fact that all 



374 J OHN F - SLATER. 

the appliances for their instruction and elevation as yet inaugurated 
were utterly insufficient, and stimulated by the noble example of 
George Peabody, he consulted with some of his old friends, those 
best capable of advising in such a matter ; and of these friends, 
most of them were eventually designated as trustees of the fund. 
The instructions to the Trustees of the John F. Slater Fund were 
drawn up, and signed by Mr. Slater on the 4th of March, 1882. 
The following are the names of the original trustees : Rutherford 
B. Hayes, of Ohio; Morrison E. Waite, District of Columbia ; Wil- 
liam E. Dodge, New York; Phillips Brooks, Massachusetts; 
Daniel C. Gilman, Maryland ; John A. Stewart, New York ; Al- 
fred H. Colquitt, Georgia ; Morris K. Jessup, New York ; James 
P. Boyce, Kentucky, and William A. Slater, Connecticut. The 
latter is the son of the donor, and William E. Dodge having de- 
ceased, his son, William E. Dodge, Jr., was substituted as a trustee. 
The letter addressed to the trustees, relating to the application of 
the fund, by Mr. Slater, after reciting the object of its creation to 
be " the uplifting of the lately emancipated population of the 
Southern States, by conferring upon them the blessings of Chris- 
tian education," proceeds to indicate that the best mode to accom- 
plish this is in the training of teachers, from among and of the race 
to be benefited. The official act, however, leaves the trustees a 
large liberty in the choice of means, but gives the not unnecessary 
warning that, as endowments sometimes tend to discourage self- 
reliance on the part of beneficiaries, or become a convenience to 
the rich instead of a help to the poor, Mr. Slater writes: "I solemnly 
charge my trustees to use their best wisdom in preventing any 
such defeat of the spirit of this trust ! " Mr. Slater was a far- 
seeing and wise man. He realized the possible change of the 
conditions of society, and therefore introduced a clause, enabling 
the trustees to change their methods of application after the lapse 
of thirty-five years. But the fund was not to be diverted from the 
benefit of the colored race. It was also his expressed wish that 
no sectional or sectarian spirit should mar the usefulness of his 



JOHN F. SLATER. 375' 

gift, and finally, he acknowledges in this remarkable document, 
that he was encouraged in bestowing this charitable foundation, 
by the eminent success of the administration of the Peabody Edu- 
cation Fund. 

Some surprise was expressed that Mr. Slater should desire to 
have the act of incorporation passed by the New York Assembly, 
rather than by that of his native State of Connecticut, and he gave 
no reason for this, except that New York was the great financial 
centre of the country, and that three of the trustees were residents 
of it. The bill was introduced in the assembly at Albany by the 
Hon. A. M. Patterson; the only opposition expected was to the 
last clause of the first section, which says : "And the said fund 
shall be exempt from taxation of any and every nature." Of 
course there was a little flurry in the lobby, by those anxious to 
see if anything could be made out of this large trust fund, but the 
known character of the gentlemen concerned, dispelled such hopes 
almost as soon as formed, and no formidable opposition was raised. 
On the 1 2th of April, 1882, the bill was referred to the Committee 
on Charitable Institutions, was by them reported on favorably, was 
passed by both riouses, and received the signature of the governor. 
It must have been very gratifying to Mr. Slater to learn, that 
very shortly after the passage of the act at Albany, the Senate of 
the United States, then in session at Washington, passed a resolu- 
tion, thanking " John F. Slater for his gift of $1,000,000 for the 
purpose of educating the colored people of the South." 

Mr. Slater still lives to enjoy the consciousness of the great good 
his gift has already begun to accomplish. The fund has been well 
invested, and on October 5th, 1882, only six months after the pas- 
sage of the act, the finance committee of the trustees reported that 
the income would net between $50,000 and $60,000 per annum. 

A correspondence was opened throughout the South, addressed 
to the best informed persons on the subject of education among 
the colored people, and from responses to these letters and other 
information, the schools and pupils to receive a share of the fund 



•^6 JOHN F. SLATER. 

was agreed upon, the distribution of the income taking place at the 
commencement of the school year in 1883. 

John F. Slater is in personal appearance a tall, well-proportioned 
man, carrying himself with something of a military bearing; he 
maintains the old fashion of a smoothly-shaven chin, but wears 
short gray whiskers ; it is not easy to think of him as an old man, 
although he has passed his seventh decade. He lives in a large 
comfortable mansion on " the plains," just beyond the hills, which 
cluster about the head of the river Thames — a short and pleasant 
drive from the business centre of Norwich. The house stands on 
elevated ground, which is reached by a circuitous path between 
fragrant shrubbery and tall trees, which partly shelter it from the 
gaze of the traveller when these trees are in full foliage. The 
house is large, but not built for show — its aspect is peculiarly home- 
like ; from the porch, and still more from the upper windows, an 
extensive view of the city of Norwich and vicinity can be obtained. 
He has one son, William A., who is a recent graduate from Har- 
vard, and is also a trustee of the great trust fund. 

Mr. Slater is undoubtedly the richest man in Connecticut, but he 
has never chosen to let the public into the secret of how many 
figures it takes to write out the amount of his fortune. The prop- 
erty of the Slaters has been accumulating the whole of the present 
century ; their business has been a legitimate one ; there have 
been no speculative nor gambling proclivities in the family. And 
though they have bought railroad and other stocks, they have not 
haunted the exchange to trade on other people's losses. They 
have built up whole villages in the States of Connecticut, New 
Hampshire, and Massachusetts, and have employed many thou- 
sands of laborers and operatives. Such men, if they never gave 
away a cent in charity, are still a source of wealth to others, and a 
benefit to any community. 

Mr. Slater died at his home in Norwich on the 7th of May, 1884. 
His only child, a son, Mr. William A. Slater, is his principal heir. 




JOHN H. STARIN 



JOHN H. STARIN. 

There are few men more popular, within the radius of a hun- 
dred miles around New York, than John H. Starin, the ubiquitous 
" steamboat man." Every one who has sailed on the bay of New 
York, on Long Island Sound or the North river, in recent years, 
can hardly have failed to notice certain gay-looking steamers bear- 
ing to them, if they are strangers, a mysterious flag, marked with 
a star and the letters I N. From the frequency with which this 
flag appears on the waters surrounding the metropolis, especially 
in summer, when excursions are in vogue, one might easily pre- 
sume that some great transportation company was the owner of 
these boats, and the visitor from a distance is usually surprised to 
learn, though nominally so, that they are nearly all owned by one 
man, and that his name is Star-in. 

Steamboating was not the original occupation of this enterprising 
man, who was born in the inland town of Sammonsville, in Fulton 
county, in the State of New York, on the 27th of August, 1825, 
at which period his native town was in Montgomery county, of 
which Fulton now forms a new division. Young Starin received 
a good education, preparatory to the study of a liberal profession, 
and that which he chose was medicine, intending to practise as a 
physician ; but, having made considerable progress in this study, 
he discovered that his tastes led to a more active life ; something 
in the commercial line appeared to him the most desirable, but cir- 
cumstances led him, about 1845, to establish himself in the drug 
business, in the town of Fultonville. Here he did very well, but 
of course it was riot the place to make a fortune. He had the 
tact, however, to make his politics help him, and procured the ap- 
pointment of postmaster, which he held during the latter part of 

(377) 



378 JOHN H. STARIN. 

President Polk's administration, and till after the election of 
Taylor ; but, having in that campaign worked very zealously for 
the election of General Scott, he lost the position of handling the 
mails as his reward. 

If a druggist in a country town is a genial man, his store natur- 
ally becomes the focus of all the surrounding neighborhood for 
politicians and wiseacres of all kinds, and is often made a practical 
hall of debate, not only upon local*affairs, but for all other sub- 
jects, including national politics. Hence Mr. Starin's political 
views were no secret to any one in Fultonville ; and there are al- 
ways plenty of people ready to send the news to Washington if 
an official incumbent so free-spoken as Mr. Starin is not in precise 
sympathy with the administration. However, the loss of this ap- 
pointment was no serious matter to him ; he simply devoted more 
time to extending his business, in pursuit of which he came to New 
York. Once in the whirl of city life, the drug business appeared 
to him too slow ; the moving panorama of active life upon the 
water attracted his ambitious gaze, and he resolved to invest the 
capital acquired during thirteen years of drug-compounding, and 
the extensive sale of a patent medicine, in something that should 
float. He could not yet venture into very deep waters, financially 
or otherwise, so he commenced by hiring canal-boats to carry 
freight ; and, prospering in this, he was soon enabled to buy boats, 
and thus save the rent-money, and, as he gained business and the 
profits increased, he built for himself new boats, adding to them 
such improvements as that kind of craft is capable of. But, 
though he had got his foot, as it were, upon the waters, canaling 
did not long satisfy him. The narrow boundaries of the canal 
seemed to bind down the natural buoyance of his spirits ; it chafed 
him if he stood on the deck of a North river steamer and saw a 
fleet of his canal-boats crawling out into the Hudson, and down 
that beautiful stream, drawn along by an insignificant tug. True, 
canaling had brought him money, but the time had come to take a 
step higher. The canal-boats were sold off and the money in- 



JOHN H. STARIN. 379 

vested in steamers that could " q-o outside " and face the " ocean's 
roar," " on old Long Island's sea-girt shore," or elsewhere. Still, 
freighting was his principal business; to this he was accustomed, 
and for this only his first steamers were adapted. It was the 
gigantic development of the Coney Island traffic which first made 
him " see millions" in the excursion flotilla. 

His immediate object, however, w r as not to establish a special 
line of boats to any particular point, but to supply steamers for 
hire to whoever wanted them, either to run on the river, the sound, 
or the bay. Eventually, however, having purchased for his own 
summer residence a group of islands situated in Long Island 
Sound, nearly opposite New Rochelle, he soon afterwards con- 
cluded that this location, less than two hours sail from the city, 
would make an excellent summer resort for excursionists. His 
own house is built on an elevated site, commanding a splendid 
view, and is not enclosed from the public, though it is not intruded 
upon by visitors to the grounds; a simple printed notice reading 
" Private," upon a tree here and there, suffices to define the bound- 
aries, which the public do not disregard. This group of islands 
is in name abbreviated to one, " Glen Island ; " it is a most lovely 
place. Projecting headlands stretch themselves out into the salt 
waters of the sound, while tall trees grow almost to the water's 
edge. The several islands are united by rustic bridges of artistic 
design ; smooth lawns charm the eye, and flower plots are laid out 
in profusion ; seats are everywhere — under the trees and in the 
sunshine ; covered pavilions afford shelter from summer showers ; 
restaurants, from the simplest dairy style, to the most elaborate 
dining-rooms, are scattered at reasonable intervals ; asphalt paths 
lead in all directions ; an elegant music-stand is occupied with a 
carefully selected band, and a promenade pavilion, having also 
seats and tables, is in close proximity. In one portion of the 
grounds is special provision for children and nurses. One island, 
approached by a neat bridge, is specially dedicated to parties 
bringing their own luncheon, so that the whole of the grounds are 



380 JOHN H. STARIN. 

not disfigured by open-air eating. There is quite an attractive 
zoological department, including an immense marble basin, in 
which sea-lions disport themselves ; indeed, it would appear im- 
possible to suggest any improvement in this charming resort. It 
is a restful place — one can be quiet there if he wishes ; the place 
is large enough to accommodate many thousands, without any 
sense of crowding, and while the air is saline, the eye is enchanted 
with grass, trees, and flowers, free from the intolerable glare of the 
shelterless sandy beaches of Coney Island or Rockaway. This is 
peculiarly a day resort, the last boats leaving the island before 
dark, so that there is little temptation to the unruly element to go 
there. Knowing the taste of our Teutonic fellow-citizens for such 
rural picnicking as Glen Island affords, Mr. Starin has shrewdly 
placed, near the steamboat landing, and at intervals here and 
there, the seductive legend, " Klein Deutschland " (little Ger- 
many). If Mr. Starin had done nothing else for the public, we 
should esteem him a great benefactor in opening this safe and 
healthful resort to the weary and worn of the great metropolis. 
One hundred acres of diversified land and water scenery is no- 
where more pleasantly and conveniently located than at Glen 
Island. That the people who can avail themselves of it think so, 
is shown in the fact that, in one year (1883), very nearly 700,000 
visitors landed there. 

One day, a year or two since, the writer was on a steamer in 
the bay of New York, when there was seen approaching a tug, 
drawing along a barge gayly decorated with flags of various kinds, 
with the well-known *IN flag at the fore. The tug was heading 
towards the Narrows ; on its closer approach, music was heard, 
but strange to say, only here and there was a form visible, the 
deck-hands, and a few women ; it seemed impossible that any 
excursion could leave New York with so few persons on board ; 
the mystery was solved, however, when it was learned that this 
was a " baby excursion," and that hundreds of invisible passen- 
gers were on deck, but whose young heads were not high enough 



JOHN H. STARIN. 38 1 

to reach above the bulwarks, and thus, at even a short distance, 
they could not be perceived ; and this kind of excursion was re- 
peated every summer. 

Since 1879 Mr. Starin has yearly indulged in the somewhat 
expensive pleasure of giving free excursions to those unable to 
pay for the luxury; as many as thirty per annum have been given 
for several years. Among those thus benefited have been the 
Union veteran soldiers and sailors, with their families ; these gen- 
erally make up about 6,000 people. The municipal police force 
and their families make a party of some 5,000. The New York 
newsboys and bootblacks are a lively lot of 2,000, numerically 
speaking, but to those who have the oversight of these irrepressible 
youths, their number frequently appears to be nearer 10,000. The 
steamers usually accommodate a full 5,000 on the annual excur- 
sion given to the very poor women and children of the Five 
Points. Going outside of New York, Mr. Starin has made place 
in his charity list for 3,000 poor, of families dwelling in New 
Haven, Conn. Various miscellaneous free excursions of smaller 
organizations are frequently added. 

Then follows, less as a charity than as a compliment, and as a 
token of mutual good will, when Mr. Starin annually invites all his 
employes and their families to "make a day of it" at Glen Island, 
superadding a regular dinner for these 1,500 people. To the 
other free excursionists refreshments are also given, and bands of 
music cheer them on the glorious sail through Long Island Sound. 
The expense of these free excursions is not less than $8,000 per 
annum, but what an immense amount of pleasure, health, and good 
will is diffused among these thousands, which cannot be put into 
figures, or even words ! One must look into the happy faces of 
these old and young participants to appreciate the benefit ; and 
even listen to them in their homes, months afterward, when they 
are telling of the delightful holiday they had "last summer," and 
hear the expressions of anticipation of what they hope to enjoy 
again "next summer," to get an idea of how these trips are appre- 



382 JOHN H. STARIN. 

dated. That it " may live long and prosper " is the ardent wish 
of all these beneficiaries, and thousands of less impecunious holi- 
day seekers, when they think of the " Starin City, River and Har- 
bor Transportation Company," and its honored president. 

But Mr. Starin is not only one of the most energetic business 
men of the metropolis, but a clear-headed politician. His fellow- 
citizens discovered his merits for another sphere when they elected 
him to represent them in the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congress 
(1877-79), m which he faithfully served the interests of his constit- 
uents, but did not like Washington well enough to desire a re- 
election. He is a typical American, and able to do a great many 
things well. He is not only "high admiral" of the great excursion 
interests of the metropolis, but he still keeps up his connection 
with the agricultural district in which his family originated ; his 
investments are not all afloat upon the waters, but in Fulton 
county, and elsewhere, are various kinds of industries in which he 
is a large stockholder, and in these communities he has shown 
himself the generous giver, the same as in his dealings around 
New York and vicinity. Some one has truly said of him : " Mr. 
Starin is a kind of all-the-year-round Santa Claus." And yet, the 
more he gives away, the more he seems to make. But though a 
generous giver, no one need think to make an easy bargain with 
him. In the matter of a trade, he can look after his own interests 
as efficiently as any man in the State. Mr. Starin's city residence 
is " up-town," among the handsome brownstone fronts, not far 
from Central Park. He has two sons, who may yet carry the *IN 
flag into broader waters than New York bay, the Hudson river, 
or the fairyland of Glen Island. 



JOHN P. JONES. 

Nevada, or the "Silver State," lies entirely inland; it is part of 
the great interior American basin, which lies between the Wahsatch 
and Wind river range of mountains on the east, and is bounded 
on the west by the Sierra Nevada. It is a land of wonders. Its 
rivers rise and sink within its own borders. The rock formations 
embrace nearly every example of sedimentary or eruptive products, 
from the earliest era known in geology to the present time. 
Beside gold and silver, it produces lead, borax, salt, soda, sulphur, 
antimony, copper, cinnabar, gypsum, plumbago, manganese, cobalt, 
arsenic, magnesia, alum, nickel, nitre, iron, coal, isinglass and 
millionaires ; the latter crop is perhaps the most remarkable of 
the whole. How many of those who originally started for Cali- 
fornia, and wrought there with varying success, eventually crossed 
over the line to Nevada, and with a few energetic strokes their 
fortune was made ; and of these " silver millionaires " three have 
been elected and one appointed to the Senate of the United States. 
These three, Sharon, Fair and Jones, will long be remembered as the 
richest men in the Senate. The early life of Mr. Jones was passed 
in the State of Ohio, having been brought there an infant of one 
year old (in 1830), from England, the home of his parents. 
About the time of his majority, he followed the stream which was 
setting so strongly toward California, and, after a tedious voyage 
"round the Horn," landed at San Francisco in 1850. He lost no 
time dallying in that city of tents, shanties and heterogeneous ad- 
venturers, but struck out immediately for the best reputed mining 
locality he could then hear of, which happened to be the placer 
mines in Calaveras county, on the Stanislaus river ; where he was 
diligently at work with his own hands in September of '51. He 

(383) ' 



384 JOHN P. JONES. 

did very well, was prudent and economical, saved his gold, turned 
it quickly into cash, and hearing of better prospects elsewhere, 
after a somewhat extended exploration, bought out a rich claim in 
Tuolumne county near Sonora, on Woods creek: but he was never 
contented with even a paying yield, if there was any chance to do 
better. In pursuit of the most prolific mines he visited all the 
mining localities of reputation in the State, including sites in 
Sierra, Butte, Nevada, Shasta and other counties. No work dis- 
mayed him : washing out gold in the cold streams of the hillside, 
digging with pick and shovel, prospecting here and there, availing 
himself of the first crude machinery for crushing quartz ; hunting 
up mules to turn the old Mexican arrastra with its clumsy device 
for separating the gold from the rock ; boring tunnels to get the 
quicker at supposed hidden veins ; it was easier to tell what he 
did not do, than what he did, in his " search for hid treasures." 
Many years he thus toiled on with varied fortune, now " striking 
it rich " and then losing all in some vain effort to increase 
the value of a worked-out mine, or a deceptive lead. But 
with all these vicissitudes, in the long run, he kept gaining, 
until from hand labor he was able to speculate on the labor of 
others. 

As soon as proper machinery could be procured, he entered 
upon a promising enterprise at Kernville, in Tulare county, Cali- 
fornia. Here he put up extensive and valuable hoisting apparatus 
and mills for grinding the rock-ore ; the lead was believed to be 
very rich, but the excavations were soon flooded with water ; and 
for over two years force pumps were kept continually at work, 
throwing out water at the rate of 10,000 gallons per minute. No 
trouble, time or expense frightened him, if the end was worth the 
expenditure. Only once did he acknowledge defeat, and that was 
at a place in Mono county, where he undertook to operate the 
Panamint mines, which made a good showing at first, and yielded 
enough to incite hope that the lodes would increase in value as 
greater depths were reached ; but after following several disap- 



JOHN P. JONES. 385 

pointing clues, these mines were abandoned as practically unpro- 
ductive ; and here the future Senator sunk several millions into 
the ground instead of taking it out. He now thought it was about 
time to try some other State ; he went into Oregon, and found, 
not gold, but valuable gravel-pits, which paid handsomely. By 
this time the fame of Storey county, Nevada, reached his ears, and 
it was not long ere he was investing largely in Ophir, Savage, and 
Crown Point, and in these his first really great accumulations 
began. Nevada was to him, as to so many others, the ultima 
thule of his gold-seeking in the crude. Having done much 
to aid in developing these mines, not only for his own bene- 
fit but for that of the less wealthy stockholders, he began to 
turn his attention to other business enterprises, though he is 
reported as having expressed his opinion "that Comstock would 
revive." 

Having in his various explorations over the country travelled 
thousands of miles over ungraded roads, on mule back and on 
foot, he was prepared to thoroughly appreciate a good system of 
railways. Had the Panamint mines proved a profitable venture, 
he had planned a railroad to connect them with the coast, a dis- 
tance of nearly 400 miles. He did build the Santa Monica Rail- 
road, in Los Angeles county, and several fine wharves, where 
thousands of ships and steamers have since found safe anchorage. 
He spent a vast deal of money in surveying other routes, especially 
one for connecting Nevada with the Southern coast line via Col- 
orado. If the millions he has spent in projected improvements 
could now be added to his possessions, he might be rated at many 
millions of dollars higher than he is. His Santa Monica Railroad 
is said to have cost enough to have had every tie of mahogany, 
and every rail of silver; and it was sold out at a great sacrifice 
— about $1,000 a mile — to the Central Pacific. His ideas were 
too vast to be practicable ; his easy faith in mankind made him a 
prey to sharpers, speculators of the impecunious sort, and to 
" friends," who cultivated him for the money he was so free with. 
25 



$86 JOHN P. JONES. 

It is said by those who knew him in California, that he bought 
quantities of property which he had never seen, " every ranch that 
was offered him ; " and of one in Nevada, into which he put a con- 
siderable sum, that it has never yet been located. Of course, no 
fortune, however large, can bear depletions like that. One of the 
most serious losses he experienced was in his purchases of stock 
in what was locally known in San Francisco as the "Sierra Nevada 
deal." Without any basis of realty, this stock, in the hands of 
certain skillful manipulators, of which Johnny Skae was the chief, 
was made to take a sudden jump from about three dollars 
a share to $275; "Jones got in at about $200 on the drop," 
and very shortly after the stock was selling below five dollars. 
The Bank of Nevada is carrying some of the stock yet (1883). 
What Mr. Jones could see and deal with personally he could 
usually make pay, but his mania for taking people at' their word, 
without proof of the values they represented, was his financial 
undoing. 

Mr. Jones' operations have not been confined to mining and 
railroads ; quite heavy sums were invested by him in establishing 
artificial ice-factories at New Orleans, in Atlanta, Ga., and at Dal- 
las, in Texas. It is said of the one in New Orleans, that he never 
saw it, and never but once or twice the party who induced him to 
invest in it; it certainly brought him no return on his money. 
Some of his investments have benefited the community more than 
himself; even when yielding a good dividend, the San Franciscans 
would be very sorry to lose the luxurious Homman baths, which 
he fitted up with the most complete and costly arrangements ever 
known in such establishments ; these are located on Dupont 
street, and are one of the objects worth visiting in the city. A 
most beneficial project which he carried through was the redemp- 
tion of some 12,000 acres of land, at the confluence of the Sonoma 
and Napa creeks. This marsh was subject to both saline and 
fluvial overflows, was not only useless, but a source of annoyance, 
and the generator of disease to the neighboring country. Sur- 



JOHN F. JONES. 387 

rounding it with a dike to keep out the threatening floods, and 
with sluice-ways to drain it thoroughly, this American "polder," 
or reclaimed land, will cut up into 120 farms of 100 acres each, 
more fertile too, than any other section in the county of Napa, or 
perhaps in the State. The cost of this was very great, but it was 
one of the enterprises of Mr. Jones which has paid far better than 
pumping out subterranean rivers to get at non-productive mines. 
Many other useful works — such as the establishment of factories, 
the erection of buildings, and local enterprises, which have called 
for the employment of hundreds of laborers, and the diffusion of 
many millions of dollars, have caused Mr. Jones to be looked upon 
as a great benefactor to the States of California and Nevada. He 
has never had the slightest idea of hoarding his money ; what 
these Western States have yielded him he has rendered back in 
works of substantial and permanent benefit — sometimes to his 
own loss, but never to the injury of others. Senator Jones has 
never been a mere money-getting machine; he has been an ardent 
student of political economy and of national affairs. He made 
his mark in the Senate by a very remarkable speech upon 
the remonetization of silver; and to those who sympathized with 
his political views, it appeared unanswerable. It is at least a 
natural view for one to take whose fortune has been largely de- 
rived from the silver mines of the country. In 1875-6 Mr. Jones 
was appointed Chairman of the " United States Monetary Com- 
mission," to take testimony as to the effect of the depreciation 
of silver upon commerce, and on the prosperity of the country, 
a work entirely congenial to him, but executed in a somewhat 
partisan spirit. 

Mr. Jones has naturally a scholarly mind ; he does not run to 
fast horses, cards, or yachts, but prefers intellectual pleasures, and 
the quiet of domestic life. He is entirely unpretentious in man- 
ner, and in the style of his dress; to meet him transiently, no one 
would suspect him of being a millionaire. When in New York, he 
usually stops at the St. James hotel, in which he had an interest 



3&8 JOHN P. JONES. 

and lost some rrioney. His fortune has dwindled considerably; 
the reckless generosity with which he invested his money, when- 
ever a friend needed help to keep him afloat, was proverbial ; but 
the Senator enjoys life, and is too busy to spend any time repining 
over non-productive investments. His fortune is now estimated 
by thousands instead of millions, but he has a very handsome 
income, and with from $50,000 to $100,000 is "as well off as if he 
was rich." 

A characteristic anecdote is told of Mr. Jones during his early 
days in California. He had a friend there named Hayward, from 
Vermont. Hayward had a claim on a mountain-side that had 
shown no particular promise; still, he held on to it. One hot summer 
day, when the Red Hills were quivering with heat, Hayward came 
to see Jones. Said he: "Jones, I'm very near to a wonderful 
vein ; I know it, I feel it, but I'm flat broke. I want $2,000; with 
that I will make both our fortunes." "Now, old fellow," said Jones, 
" I have known just 1,000 men who were exactly in your fix ; they 
only needed $1,000, sometimes only $100, to make their eternal 
fortunes." But Jones could never refuse a friend anything if he 
had the money, so he finally said: "I will let you have $2,000; I 
have $3,000 buried under the fireplace ; wait till the fire goes out, 
and I will get it for you — but mind, don't ask me for any more." 
When Hayward had got the money in his hand, he said : " Jones, 
when I strike the vein, I will give you a quarter interest." About 
a month after this interview, Jones was sitting one afternoon in 
his cabin, when Hayward suddenly burst in, looking as pale as a 
ghost. "Jones, my boy, I've struck it!" and sure enough he had; 
when they went together to examine the "find," Jones found that 
his friend had really struck that rare development, a " pocket " 
of almost pure gold, one of the richest ever found in California. 
Hayward sold it to Wells, Fargo & Co. for $5,000,000, and he 
was as good as his word ; the day after the sale he made over to 
Jones the promised one-quarter — $1,250,000. It was the daughter 
of Mr. Hayward that Jones afterwards married. Mr. Jones is 



JOHN P. JONES. 389 

reported as having recently expressed the opinion that the Corn- 
stock lode will be revived. 

Like Senator Sharon, Senator Jones desires a re-election to 
the Senate, and it is understood that when the time comes 
they will be rival candidates. If eloquence can win the votes, 
there are few Western orators who would be likely to excel 
J. P. Jones in affluence of speech and plausible arguments. 
Long before he ever saw the Senate Chamber, he was famous 
for his impromptu speeches, his witty repartees, and capacity 
for pathos when that was seasonable. If Senator Jones is re- 
elected, it will not be through the influence of his money 
alone, but the belief of his constituents in his fitness for the 
position. 



JAY COOKE. 

One day in April, 1883, a looker-on in Wall street made the 
following observation : "About half- past three o'clock a tall, 
elderly man, wrapped in a spacious cloak of dark-blue that had 
evidently seen service, and wearing a broad-brimmed, light-colored, 
soft-felt hat, turned the corner of Broadway and came down the 
street. He did not attract particular attention, for in that locality 
people of all fashions and no fashion may be seen any day. Had 
he been generally recognized, it is safe to say that many heads 
would have been turned to observe him, and that no one would 
have passed him without a second glance. One person was seen 
to salute him, and that in a very cordial manner. Just as he 
reached the corner of New street, and in sight of the old ' Gold 
room,' he was met by Mr. S. Wilkinson, the veteran Secretary of 
the Northern Pacific Railroad. After a brief interview and ap- 
parently critical survey of the street they parted, and the stranger 
passed on down Wall street, and, turning into Broad, entered a 
banker's office ; only one other person within this distance recog- 
nized him, and this was the President of the Metropolitan Elevated 
Railroad. After this no one was seen to speak with him, nor did 
he cast even a passing glance at his own old historic quarters on 
the corner of Nassau street. It is believed that it was his first 
visit to Wall street since the terrible failure of 1873-4. This ap- 
parition in the blue mantle and white hat was Jay Cooke ! The 
man who manipulated more millions of Government bonds than 
any other individual in the United States, doing his country greater 
financial service in the space of a few months than all others com- 
bined." 

Jay Cooke came rather curiously by his baptismal name. His 
(39°) 




JAY COOKt 



JAY COOKE. 391 

father bore the highly classical and liberty-inspiring name of 
Eleutheros, but naturally suffered much annoyance from the in- 
ability of the common mind to take in its meaning or properly 
achieve its pronunciation ; an unacceptable nickname had hence 
pursued him through his boyhood and even into mature age. 
When he had boys of his own he therefore determined to give 
them names easy of pronunciation and incapable of abbreviation; 
hence his eldest was named Pitt, after " the great commoner," and 
his second, with whom we are more concerned, " Jay," after our 
own eminent jurist and statesman. Mr. Eleutheros Cooke was 
himself a lawyer of considerable reputation, being in his day con- 
sidered the leading lawyer in that part of Ohio which includes the 
city of Sandusky. Indeed, the family have a very respectable 
record, extending back to that pious pilgrim, Francis Cooke, who 
was one of the immortal band which came over in the " May- 
flower," and landed with the historic group on Plymouth Rock, on 
that eventful December in 1620. 

This reputable ancestor, Francis, was probably in good financial 
condition, since we find, by the old records of the colony, that his 
was the third house which was erected at the settlement. In pro- 
cess of time his descendants scattered, some going to the south 
shore of Connecticut, and others braving the terrors of the wilder- 
ness and " going west," penetrating into what is now the northern 
part of the State of New York. Of these the direct ancestors of 
Jay occupied a portion of Washington county, Jay's father being 
born in Middle Greenville ; but it was in Saratoga that he first 
commenced the practice of law. It was in 18 16-17 that a number 
of families in Saratoga concluded to form a party of colonists and 
remove to the young but promising State of Ohio, and Eleutheros 
Cooke settled in the vicinity of Sandusky, where he speedily at- 
tained an eminent position in society and politics, representing his 
district in the legislature for many successive years. His affilia- 
tions were with the old Whig party, by whom he was also elected 
to Congress in 1831. In politics, as in his boyish days, he found 



39 2 JAY COOKE. 

his name an intolerable nuisance, and in one instance a serious in- 
jury. Even at that early period there were a great many Germans 
settled in the river counties in which Mr. Cooke's district lay, and 
many of these voted for him with ballots on which the name of 
Eleutheros was incorrectly spelled, and the judges of election on 
one occasion threw out a thousand of these tickets. 

Jay Cooke was born at Sandusky (then called Portland), Huron 
county, Ohio, on the ioth of August, i82i,and is consequently now 
in his sixty-third year. It was his father's intention to give all his 
sons a thorough education, but the mixture of politics with busi- 
ness had not proved so profitable with the elder Cooke as some 
later politicians have found it, and during his absence at Washing- 
ton his business suffered ; it was also a period of general depres- 
sion, and during the recess he became aware that his financial 
embarrassments were likely to become very serious. An anecdote 
is told of this period which exhibits in a striking light the early 
force of character possessed by Jay. His father, being one day in a 
somewhat despondent mood, observed his three boys returning from 
school, and, half jocosely, half seriously, met them with a solemn 
embrace, saying, " Well, my boys, I find I have nothing left for 
you ; you will have to go and look out for yourselves.'' The lads 
hardly knew what to make of this unusual and totally unexpected 
address ; but, while Pitt and Henry said nothing, Jay very earnestly 
replied, " Father, I am old enough to work ; I will go and earn 
money for myself." Apparently nothing more was thought of this 
incident by either of the four participants except Jay, who was then 
about thirteen years of age; but, though he made no more talk 
about it, he meant business. The very next day, instead of going 
to school, he started off to a merchant in the city whom the family 
knew, a Mr. Hubbard, and applied for a position as a clerk. Mr. 
Hubbard knew and liked Jay ; he was also in want of a clerk, 
having just dismissed one for unfaithfulness; but "Jay was so 
young! " However, he was prepossessed in his favor. He asked 
the boy some questions ; found he was quick and ready at figures, 



JAY COOKE. 393 

wrote a fair hand, ambitious and anxious to be useful. So he 
ended by engaging him, provided he obtained his father's consent, 
but putting him at once to work. 

When the brothers Pitt and Henry came home and reported to 
the mother that "Jay had not been to school," great was her sur- 
prise, and when he returned later in the day, after the closing of 
the store, she began to speak of his truancy; but he speedily set 
her mind at rest by the explanation that he was not going to be a 
burden on his parents any longer, and had already begun to earn 
money. The father, half vexed and yet proud of the boy who had 
so promptly taken him at his word, agreed with the mother that 
it was not best to force him back to school, foreseeing that, after 
this little spurt of independence, his mind would no longer be on 
his books ; so they cheerfully ratified his agreement with Mr. Hub- 
bard, and thus little Jay was fairly launched into the world of com- 
merce — and money-making. His employer took great interest in 
him on account of his ready and obliging manners, and his evident 
desire to do all his duty faithfully, and his unusual capacity for 
figures induced Mr. Hubbard to teach him book-keeping and also 
put him in the way of completing some other studies. He felt 
that he could trust him, and soon had occasion to put this faith in 
him to the test. Mr. Hubbard's partner was absent on a journey, 
and the former being detained at his home by sickness, the whole 
business of the store was conducted by Jay, who, calling for the 
keys in the morning and returning them with the money received 
through the day at night to Mr. Hubbard, often remained with 
the latter an hour or two in the evening. This continued for some 
time, and the young clerk's faithfulness and ability soon became 
known and talked of among the storekeepers of the city. One of 
these, when Jay had been nearly a year with Mr. Hubbard, was 
about removing to St. Louis, and made the lad a very enticing 
offer to go with him there as clerk and bookkeeper. The enter- 
prise looked promising, and seemed to offer a better prospect for 
the future than could be hoped for in Sandusky, and young Cooke 



394 J AY cooke. 

accepted the offer; for some reason, however, his employer, Mr. 
Seymour, did not succeed in his business, and in less than a year 
his young clerk was back at home again. He now took the 
opportunity to resume some of his interrupted studies ; mathemat- 
ics had a peculiar attraction for him, and in this direction he be- 
came very proficient. He also filled up his leisure with reading, 
and thus endeavored to compensate himself for his limited school- 
ing. Shortly, however, he was invited by a brother-in-law, Mr. 
William G. Moorhead, to take the position of bookkeeper in his 
business in Philadelphia. Mr. Moorhead was engaged in railroad 
and canal affairs, and this seemed a good opening for the ambi- 
tious youth, but this engagement was also destined to sudden in- 
terruption, and briefly terminated at the conclusion of some twelve 
months, Mr. Moorhead being appointed consul to Valparaiso, 
which once more threw his young relative out of a position. Mr. 
Cooke, Sr., was now in a more prosperous condition, and was 
anxious for his son to re-enter school and make up his deficiencies 
©f education, which the lad as well as his father felt was desirable; 
so he once more took up his books ; but it seems that he left so 
favorable a reputation behind him in Philadelphia, that he could 
not be allowed to remain a school-boy. Mr. Clark, of the bank- 
ing-firm of E. W. Clark & Co., wrote to Jay's father soliciting the 
favor of receiving his son into their establishment, promising to 
train him to the business of banking, and offering very consider- 
able inducements. The offer w r as a very flattering one, and though 
it promised to draw the lad permanently away from Sandusky, the 
father did not long hesitate, and the engagement was made. 
Young as he was, Jay Cooke had already established a character 
as an able and trustworthy person, and this firm of bankers were 
not mistaken when they thought they perceived in young Jay 
Cooke a peculiar capacity for finance ; certainly there must have 
been scores of young men in Philadelphia who would gladly have 
accepted the position ; but Jay had made an impression upon Mr. 
Clark not to be effaced, and thus we see him regularly inducted 



JAY COOKE. 395 

into the very business which was to fit him for the great trusts of 
the future, when the financial credit of the nation seemed to hang 
upon his individual skill as a financier. 

Young Cooke was not yet seventeen when he went to Philadel- 
phia the second time ; and now he had come to stay. The firm of 
E. W. Clark & Co. stood high with the mercantile and banking 
community for perfect integrity and its honorable mode of deal- 
ing; it was also at that time the largest in the United States (ex- 
clusive of those having foreign affiliations). They had branches 
in New York, Boston, Iowa, St. Louis and New Orleans. Jay 
Cooke did not disappoint the hopes built upon him, so receptive, 
intelligent and assiduous was he in all the affairs of the concern, 
so intent on learning all the intricacies of the business that, even 
before he was of a^e, he was the trusted friend of the firm as well 
as its faithful employe. He was even authorized to use the name 
of the firm before the legal age of responsibility, so much trust 
being placed in his judgment and probity. As soon as he attained 
his majority he was made a member of the firm, in which connec- 
tion he remained for sixteen years; much of his time, though a 
junior partner, he was practically at the head of the business. 
During this period Clark & Co. had subscribed largely to several 
government loans, and thus Jay Cooke had the opportunity of 
early becoming familiarized with that kind of securities. By 
1858 Mr. Cooke had already accumulated a handsome fortune, 
and not wishing to be tied down so closely to business, he with- 
drew from the firm ; but his spirit was too active to enjoy the re- 
pose he had promised himself, and he was soon drawn into numer- 
ous speculations, mostly with railroads and other large corporations, 
and three years later formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, 
Mr. Moorhead, with whom he had as a lad found his first occupa- 
tion in Philadelphia. The business title of the firm was "Jay 
Cooke & Co." One inducement to Mr. Cooke to re-enter formally 
into new business arrangements was the opportunity it gave him 
to induct his sons into business, and with a perfect self-conscious- 



396 JAY COOKE. 

ness, which events justified, he concluded that they could nowhere 
else acquire better business principles and habits than under his 
own eye. 

Mr. Cooke's partner, Mr. Moorhead, had long been concerned 
in railroad affairs, and his experience in that direction was a valu- 
ble contribution to the influence of the firm. In 1861 the Gov- 
ernment issued its first call for a war loan, and though not at that 
time employed as agents for the United States, the firm of Jay 
Cooke & Co. voluntarily solicited and obtained a large number 
of subscribers to come forward and help tide over this first diffi- 
culty. The firm also negotiated for the State of Pennsylvania the 
greater part of a loan of several millions. It being a period of 
general depression, these successes served to draw especial atten- 
tion to the new competitors. Mr. Salmon P. Chase was Secretary 
of the Treasury at this time, and as he could not succeed in 
making satisfactory terms with the banks, he determined to try 
the experiment of a popular loan, the effectiveness of Jay Cooke 
& Co. in securing subscribers to that of the spring of 1861 
greatly encouraging him in the belief that it would prove a suc- 
cess. To interest all parts of the country, he appointed agents in 
each of the loyal States, 400 in all, a large proportion of these 
naturally being persons connected with banking establishments. 
Of course the firm of Jay Cooke & Co. was not overlooked, and it 
became the government agent for Philadelphia. Mr. Cooke went 
into the business con amore, with zeal but also with system, adver- 
tising very largely, and employing subordinate agents, and the 
result was that, of the whole sum raised ($30,000,000) by the 400 
government agents, Jay Cooke & Co. turned in the sum of $10,- 
000,000. But this sum was a mere bagatelle to the needs of the 
treasury ; it dissolved before the requisitions of the war depart- 
ment like dew-drops before the sun, while new necessities sprang 
up in every other department of the government. Congress was 
called upon to authorize a loan of $500,000,000 — since known as 
the " 5-20 bonds." The former experiments of the 400 agents 



JAY COOKE. 397 

had in the main been a failure; not a tenth part of those employed 
had made an}/ special effort to ensure success, while the great 
majority of them had paid far more attention to their private 
business than to the pressing needs of the government. Hence 
the Secretary of the Treasury resolved to put the new loan into 
as few hands as possible, and even to one person, if any one in- 
dividual could be found brave enough to accept such an enormous) 
trust. 

Mr. Jay Cooke was the person already selected in the mind of 
the Secretary as the one whom he hoped would accept it ; the 
offer was made, and the response came promptly in the affirmative. 
Salmon P. Chase felt a great burden rolled off his heart; the 
bonds were so judiciously presented before the public, that the 
loan speedily became popular ; the sales increased day by day, and 
finally, victory perched upon the banner of the Philadelphia banker. 
But $500,000*000 cannot be disposed of under the most favorable 
conditions without a considerable effort, and the conditions in this 
case were far from favorable. To many persons the issues of the 
war still seemed doubtful, and the risk of investing a real hazard. 
Many of the disaffected began to draw comparisons between these 
bonds and the fate of the " Kossuth bonds," and other financial 
bubbles. But Jay Cooke organized for the work of disposing of 
them as carefully and scientifically as if the life of his country hung 
upon each and every single bond. He appreciated the power of 
the press, and realized that the first difficulty to be overcome was 
the apathy and distrust of capitalists, and of the thrifty portion of 
the community. To overcome this, he knew there was no power 
in the land equal to the task, unless the press could be aroused to 
create a public sentiment. But the press, like the rest of the peo- 
ple, had not yet become habituated to regard such enormous 
expenditures with equanimity. The press, then, must be sub- 
sidized ; but this too must be done very delicately, or its pride 
would be alarmed. Mr. Cooke began his assault upon the public 
mind in a sensible, business way ; he sent advertisements to every 



398 JAY COOKE. 

paper in the Northern States; he induced, so far as he could, every 
editor who received an advertisement to favorably notice the sale 
of the bonds. He procured the insertion of articles in magazines 
and reviews, explaining and eulogizing the scheme. He employed 
personal agents, in localities where it would tell, " to talk up the 
bonds." He also sent travelling agents through the country parts, 
to receive subscriptions from farmers, and others of still smaller 
means, so that every man, woman, or boy who had fifty dollars 
saved, could "help save the nation," and procure a good and safe 
investment, without travelling to the city or the county bank to 
place their money. Mr. Cooke himself worked day and night — 
writing letters to influential people all over the country, laying out 
plans for his agents, and we may say, paying bills, for all this 
movement of men and means cost money : $500,000 had been ex- 
pended in arousing the country before the returns began to come 
in. Mr. Cooke's partners, and other friends, as may well be im- 
agined, began to grow anxious, but Jay Cooke's faith in the means 
used was of that solid nature which could wait serenely, confident 
of the end. At last the public sympathy began to ooze out in 
little rills and streams, like the beginning G f a freshet, or the 
gradual bursting of a mill-dam. The spectators watch, and the 
streams grow larger: small and slow at first, they now begin to 
expand and to hurry, till finally, gathering strength by their own 
force and push, they break all bounds, and rush with irresistible 
energy, overcoming, overwhelming every obstacle that stands in 
the way ; and so it was with the sale of these " 5-20's ; " first a few 
patriotic individuals, then a few more; from tens the applicants 
grew to scores, from scores to fifties — hundreds — thousands, until 
the clerical force of the office was insufficient to answer the de- 
mands, and extra help had to be obtained. The furore grew with 
what it fed on, and ere many weeks had passed since the first gen- 
eral movement towards them, Mr. Cooke was obliged to announce 
that every bond was spoken for, and that after such a day and 
hour no more could be obtained. But now the would-be buyers 



JAY COOKE. 399 

were not to be so put off; applications still poured in. What was 
to be done ? were these voluntary contributors to the stability of 
the government to be sent away empty-handed ? By no means, 
thought Jay Cooke. He faced the responsibility single-handed, 
and on his own credit issued $14,000,000 more of the bonds, rely- 
ing upon Congress to legalize them, which was afterwards done. 
This last was a bold, even audacious stroke of generalship ; but 
showed the character of the man, and the perfect assurance that 
he had, that what Jay Cooke had done, Jay Cooke could justify. 
Better financiering than the placing of that loan the world has 
never seen honestly done. 

Now let us see what inducements were held out by the govern- 
ment for this Philadelphia banker to make such gigantic efforts 
and assume such risks. To help in the estimate we may state 
that the commission usually paid in Europe to agents who nego- 
tiate government loans ranges from four to eight per cent., with 
no risk to themselves. The risks which Mr. Cooke assumed were 
unparalleled in the history of finance. We do not forget the patriot 
Robert Morris who came to the aid of the government in the 
Revolutionary era, and seriously impaired his private fortune in 
that patriotic service ; nor the far-sighted generosity of Stephen 
Girard who took the whole of a government loan on his own 
shoulders in 181 2-13 ; but these were trifles in amount compared 
to the issue of the " 5-20 bonds." In this latter case the govern- 
ment made a hard, close bargain, by which it could lose nothing 
even if the experiment failed. The Treasury Department did not 
expend a cent in preliminary work ; all the expenses of the beating- 
up process were paid by Cooke & Co., so that if it had failed, the 
firm would have lost half a million dollars, and probably have been 
ruined. And if it succeeded, what was the compensation ? Five- 
eighths of one per cent. I and out of this he must reimburse himself 
for all his enormous expenditures. Under such circumstances it is 
impossible to believe but that Mr. Cooke was actuated by pure 
and patriotic motives in the desire to sustain the Union rather 



400 JAY COOKE. 

than pecuniary considerations. Neither was the Secretary of the 
Treasury inclined to put a generous construction upon these hard 
terms of his bargain. When the rush for the bonds had reached 
its climax, and the physical impossibility of supplying them through 
the offices of Jay Cooke in Philadelphia and New York became 
apparent, many persons in their impatience rushed themselves or 
sent to Washington to obtain them, so that in the final settlement 
Jay Cooke only received his commission on $363,000,000 instead of 
$500,000,000 ; although he was morally and in equity entitled to 
the whole, and might have obtained it had he seen fit to press his 
suit, as it was acknowledged on all hands that he had " set the 
ball in motion " which produced such satisfactory results. But 
realizing that Mr. Chase, whose patriotism was undoubted, was 
influenced by ideas of what he conceived to be necessary economy, 
Mr. Cooke allowed him to make the settlement on his own terms. 
This, however, was not the end of Mr. Cooke's connection with 
the government bonds. True, Mr. Chase in his next essay thought 
that the people being now in the humor for that sort of investment 
concluded in his next issue to dispense with the services of his 
late successful agent; but his experiment with the "10-40" 
loan only went to show how easily a good and wise man may 
mistake when he applies too rigid theories of economy to cases of 
public emergency. The " ten-forties " dragged their slow length 
along, so that the secretary was fain to try another experiment, 
which resulted in the issue of the " 7-30's," the history of which is 
too well known to enlarge upon here. Meanwhile the national 
banks were established, overthrowing the old State banks and 
inaugurating the reign of "greenbacks," and in consequence of 
the immense volume of this paper currency being thrown upon the 
country, its depreciation commenced, as was evinced by the un- 
precedented rise in gold ; and still more money was needed, the 
government expenses being about $3,000,000 a day, while as yet 
the Confederation looked strong and the length of the war ex- 
tremely uncertain. 



JAY COOKE. 40I 

To the surprise of the country, in June, 1864, Mr. Chase sud- 
denly resigned the Secretaryship of the Treasury. The sensitive- 
ness of the public mind to political changes of any significance 
may be imagined, when we record as the effect of this announce- 
ment that gold suddenly leaped in the course of a fortnight from 
eighty-eight per cent, premium to one hundred and eighty-five. 
Nothing less than government bankruptcy seemed impending. 
But those who never allowed themselves to despair of the republic 
were fortunately in the ascendency, and knew that, whatever had 
been the value of Mr. Chase's services, the Union had other 
good and capable men left, and that the national cause never 
would depend on the life or efforts of any one man. The Secre- 
taryship of the Treasury was accepted by Mr. Fessenden, an able 
financier himself, but who was not above calling in extraneous aid. 
Another loan being imperative, he called at once upon Jay Cooke 
to assist in placing it. Mr. Cooke again set in operation the 
same tactics he had found so effective on a former occasion, ap- 
peals through the press and personal agencies, without stint or 
counting the cost. If he did not originate he gave full effect to the 
phrase that "A national debt is a national blessing." This time he 
did not content himself with the home market; through corre- 
spondents and agents he spread information and arguments in favor 
of United States securities broadcast over Europe, particularly in 
Germany, Holland and Switzerland ; and the result was that in 
little over six months about $200,000,000 of United States bonds 
had been sold in London, Paris, Berlin, Frankfort and Amster- 
dam, nor has the demand ever altogether ceased for United 
States bonds in those great commercial centres. Within twelve 
months' time $830,000,000 of- United States bonds had been 
placed at home and abroad mainly by the skillful engineering of 
Jay Cooke. 

With the return of peace the firm of Jay Cooke & Co. turned 
its attention to other objects, principally the negotiation of loans 
for great public and corporate enterprises, maintaining through 
26 



4-02 JAY COOKE. 

every change its reputation for honorable dealing and its pre- 
eminence in the vastness of its enterprises, government securities 
being still a staple of the house. Having, through the negotiation 
of the latter, obtained a European reputation, it was a natural re- 
sult that Mr. Cooke should desire to extend his business in that 
direction; hence the establishment, in 1871, of the branch house 
in London, known as "Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co.," the last- 
named gentleman having recently been the successor of Chase 
and Fessenden in the secretaryship of the United States treasury. 
The new firm of American bankers, through the vastness of their 
resources and precedent reputation, were at once accorded the 
highest rank in financial circles; they were the acknowledged 
peers of the Rothschilds, Barings or any other financiers in 
London, and soon gave extraordinary proof of their capacity to 
deal with the largest interests known to nations. Shortly after 
their debut in London, Mr. McCulloch being the resident partner 
there, the new Secretary of the United States Treasury, George 
Boutwell, attempted to fund a large part of the public debt by 
issuing new bonds, at a lower rate of interest, and with the pro- 
ceeds to buy up the old six per cent, bonds; he therefore put out 
$200,000,000 "five per cents." Making every effort of which he 
was capable, the new bonds lagged, and at the end of six months 
only $60,000,000 had been disposed of, with no apparent prospect 
of getting the remainder off his hands, since what had been sold 
were taken by the banks, and no popular enthusiasm had been 
aroused. Discouraged by the result, the Secretary at last applied 
to the firm of Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co., and in less than a 
fortnight the whole of the remaining loan, $140,000,000, was sold. 
The people of Europe are not accustomed to large rates of interest 
from government funds, and five per cent, looked to them very 
attractive ; and this last exploit of Jay Cooke opened the eyes of 
Americans to the fact that a market was always open abroad for 
bonds bearing a low rate of interest. 

The affiliations of Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co. with European 



JAY COOKE. 403 

bankers was now turned to the benefit of the United States. The 
former firm entered into a special arrangement with that of L. ML 
Rothschilds & Sons, of London, to negotiate, for the United 
States, a loan of $600,000,000. This offer was an unprecedented 
event, and would have been accepted gratefully by the Govern- 
ment, but just at this epoch the diplomatic affairs of the two 
countries were somewhat strained by the claims of the United 
States upon England arising out of the Alabama ravages, and the 
proposition of the great bankers was held over for further con- 
sideration, since it could not at that time be foreseen that the claims 
of the United States would be peacefully settled by arbitration ; 
but the knowledge that Jay Cooke & Co. were affiliated in this 
business with the famous house of Rothschild served to still 
further enlarge their credit in European circles, and it was the as- 
surance they had of thi^ fact which encouraged them in their next 
grand undertaking, for the firm had now begun to look upon the 
foreign market as their own legitimate domain. As Jupiter some- 
times nods, so the wisest of men and of financiers are liable occa- 
sionally to make a mistake, and when they do commit an error it 
is usually on a gigantic scale. The rock on which Jay Cooke split 
his financial bark, after weathering so many storms and recording 
so many victories, was the construction of the Northern Pacific 
Railroad. For this a charter was obtained in the summer of 
1864. The plan of the road was to create a continuous highway, 
on a more northern meridian than the Union and Central Pacific ; 
from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the head of Lake Superior 
by water, and from the latter point to Puget Sound by rail. It 
was a magnificent project, and worthy of the brains of a man who 
had been dealing with hundreds of millions of money, operating in 
two hemispheres, and who just then seemed incapable of manipu- 
lating anything less than continental schemes. To sell the bonds 
for this road he pursued the same popular plan of advertising 
them extensively as he had found so successful with the govern- 
ment loans ; but in this last case an extra display was made in the 



404 JAY COOKE. 

most widely circulating religious papers, and, as Mr. Cooke was 
widely known as a generous friend of many Christian objects, and 
especially poor clergymen, these ornate glowing pictures of the 
health, happiness and prosperity which awaited all those who 
should settle on the line of the railroad, as well as the good fortune 
of those who should be happy enough to procure some of the 
bonds, w r ere widely believed, and it is not surprising that these 
were taken up to a considerable extent by persons unfamiliar with 
the construction of railroads and unable to estimate the probability 
of cominor dividends under the circumstances. To the uninitiated 
the figures looked very promising ; the company had received a 
land-grant of twenty sections to the mile within the States tra- 
versed, and forty sections to the mile through the Territories. 
Work was begun upon the road in 1869, and opened to traffic in 
1873, trains running from Duluth to Bismarck, a distance of four 
hundred and fifty miles; but these trains 'ran through a wilder- 
ness ; there was not population enough to support the road, and 
the crash came. In January, 1874, the company made default in 
interest on its bonds. The truth was, the project was premature; 
a dozen years later and all would have been well. The failure of 
Jay Cooke produced an immense excitement, and the distress 
among the poorer bondholders was very great and wide-spread ; 
indeed, it amounted to a panic, which heralded the "bad times " 
which continued for so many successive years. This unfortunate 
road was sold in August, 1875, and a new company organized, so 
far as might be, in the interest of the old creditors and stock- 
holders. It has since been greatly extended, and in May, 1882, 
thirteen hundred and fifty-one miles were in operation, its bonds 
being quoted above par ; it was completed in August of 1883. Since 
1874 Mr. Cooke has not appeared as a public operator in stocks ; 
what he has done, to redeem in part his indebtedness, has been 
done quietly and mainly through other hands. 

While money was passing freely through Jay Cooke's hands, he 
was extremely liberal in the use of it. He lived in princely style 
in his winter residence in Philadelphia, and also had an elegant 



JAY COOKE. 405 

suburban mansion in the vicinity of that city, but a portion of the 
summer, for several years, he spent, in the company -of many in- 
vited guests, at his charming place on Gibraltar Island, in Lake 
Erie. This island is situated near Sandusky, his early home. 
Here every season Mr. Cooke made it a point to invite a 
number of persons, mostly poor ministers who were otherwise 
unable to take a vacation, to come and spend a few weeks at 
Gibraltar Island, and when he thought it would not give offence, 
he was very apt to inclose a check with his invitations, to cover 
travelling and other expenses. During the war Mr. Cooke gave 
largely to the Sanitary Commission and to the Christian Commis- 
sion ; to the military hospitals, and, always with peculiar pleasure, 
to sick or wounded soldiers individually, as also to the families in 
need whose husbands and sons were in the army. 

From Mr. Cooke's suburban residence, at Chelton Hills, can be 
seen several churches of different denominations which he has 
built for impecunious congregations. He also gave $25,000 to 
Kenyon College, Ohio, and to a Protestant Episcopal Theological 
Seminary between $25,000 and $30,000; in fact, no good cause 
was presented to him in vain. Although Jay Cooke had received 
but a very imperfect education, he was not destitute of either lit- 
erary tastes or literary capacity. When less than twenty years of 
age he wrote the first money article ever published in a Philadelphia 
paper (for such papers are comparatively a modern phase of jour- 
nalism) ; and for the space of a year thereafter edited the financial 
column of one of the very few papers, the Daily Chronicle, which 
then enlightened its readers on such subjects. He always took 
pleasure in the company of ministers and others who were college- 
bred, and felt, what is more, a practical interest in promoting the 
schemes of others for the extension of literary institutions. Mr. 
Cooke still lives, and would be heartily welcomed back to the 
scenes of his former financial glory, could he bring himself once 
more to face the toils and anxieties which beset even the most 
adroit and successful fishers of men in Wall street and the Stock 



406 JAY COOKE. 

Exchange. True, he has not been wholly idle, but his operations 
have been mostly confined to the Philadelphia stock market, with 
the exception of a very successful sale of a silver mine to some 
English capitalists. Though greatly reduced in wealth, Mr. Cooke 
is not absolutely poor, his present possessions being valued at 
about $2,000,000. 

At the recent celebration of the completion of the Northern 
Pacific Railroad, at the banquet held at Minneapolis, September 
4th, 1883, Mr. Cooke was not forgotten, though unable to be 
present at the ceremony of driving the "golden spike." The fol- 
lowing toast was proposed at the banquet: "Jay Cooke — It is 
fitting that the founder of the railroad which spans the continent 
should stand side by side with its prosecutor and finisher in driv- 
ing home the golden spike of the completed and consolidated en- 
terprise." General Washburn responded to the toast in an elo- 
quent speech, in the course of which he said : " It was my privilege 
to stand by Jay Cooke from the day when he first shouldered the 
Northern Pacific enterprise until that dark day in 1873, when, 
amid disaster and defeat, he laid down his uncompleted endeavor; 
I should be glad, if time permitted, to give you some due expres- 
sion of my estimate of the grand courage, magnificent fa'ith, and 
that noiv justified foresight, which characterized him. I am glad to 
have time to say even one word in honor of the man who planted 
the seed and watered it, the fruit of which is to-day being gathered 
by others." Mr. Washburn's reference to the "courage" of Jay 
Cooke is emphasized by those who remember that he stood alone 
in his own firm in his Northern Pacific undertaking, only one 
junior member and his brothers sympathizing with him. 

Mr. Cooke lives near Philadelphia with one of his married 
daughters, his wife having died some years ago, and his beautiful 
home, Ogontz, so named in honor of the Indian Chief Ogontz, a 
friend of his boyhood, has become a seminary for young women. 
It was one of the handsomest residences in America, and one of 
the largest ever built for a private family. 



FRANCIS B. THURBER. 

It is not often that we find combined in one person the elements 
of a successful merchant, an active, enthusiastic reformer, and an 
author of merit, whose writings are both pleasing and of practical 
utility. New York furnishes us at least one such prodigy. In 
Francis B. Thurber we have this unusual combination of qualities. 
Every down-town merchant, and thousands of visitors to the city, 
know by sight the large establishment of which he is now the 
ruling spirit, at the junction of West Broadway, Reade and Hudson 
streets, which gives a frontage on three streets to a prominent 
building devoted to the wholesale grocery business, conducted for 
many years past under the firm-name of H. K. & F. B. Thurber 
& Co., but more recently as Thurber, Whyland & Co. 

Francis B. Thurber was born at Delhi, Delaware county, New 
York, in 1842. His father and mother were originally from Ot- 
sego county, New York, but moved to Delhi early in their married 
life ; there were eight children in that old-fashioned homestead, 
seven of whom are still living. Francis had rather better facilities 
for education than fell to the lot of the average farmer's boy in 
that part of the State. He attended the district school regularly 
during the winters, until thirteen years of age, working on the 
farm during the summers, and was subsequently sent to the Union 
Hall academy, at Jamaica, L. I., for a short time. When nearly 
fourteen, he followed the course of so many of our successful men 
— came to New York city, and entered as a boy with the old and 
well-known firm of Robert & Williams, who were in the West 
India trade in Water street ; he afterwards entered as a clerk with 
the firm of T. M. Wheeler & Co., whose principal business was 
that of handling merchandise for Robert & Williams, which in- 

(407) 



408 FRANCIS B. THURBER. 

eluded lightering and storage. Here he remained some eight 
years, learning much about products and values, exporting and 
importing, and in many ways fitting himself to conduct an inde- 
pendent business for himself. 

For some years an elder brother, Mr. Horace K. Thurber, had 
been in the wholesale grocery business in Chambers street, and 
shortly after Francis had attained his majority (in 1863), he united 
his fortunes with his brother, and this business relationship has 
continued to the present time. The extent of their establishment 
in Chambers street even then obliged them to occupy two houses, 
Nos. 173-5, but these quarters becoming too contracted, some 
years later they erected their present large store and warehouse. 
But large and varied as this business was, it did not offer scope 
enough for the activities of Francis. Musing upon the fluctuations 
of trade, upon the laws of supply and demand ; compelled to con- 
sider the questions of freightage, by the widely extended ramifica- 
tions of their business; observing the effects of "corners" in the 
produce market, and forced to familiarity, not only with the pro- 
duction but the movement of the world's products, he became a 
close student of politico-economic questions, and there gradually 
grew up within his mind a sentiment of revolt against the tyranny 
of corporations, whose aggressions and abuses he felt were not 
only encroaching upon legitimate property rights, but were endan- 
gering our free institutions. When, after mature reflection, he 
had formed a theory, sufficiently connected to be formulated in 
utterance, he began, through personal addresses and by his pen, 
to try and arouse to a consciousness of their danger the apathetic 
public, who were supinely allowing overgrown corporations to tax 
them more heavily than the government had ever dared to do, 
under the plausible pretext of "accommodating the public." 

But we are somewhat anticipating events. Before entering on 
his campaign against monopolies, Mr. Thurber undertook, partly 
for health and pleasure, but also with an eye for business, a tour 
round the world ; one conspicuous object down on his programme 



FRANCIS B. THURBER. 409 

du voyage was to see and study out all that could be learned rela- 
ting to the production and characteristics of different varieties of 
food products. In pursuance of this intent, Mr. Thurber started 
in the summer of 1876 from New York to San Francisco, whence 
he took passage for Yokohama, on the old Pacific Mail Company's 
steamer "Alaska," making at that time a voyage of nearly four 
weeks duration, and which forces the traveller to realize, as no 
description can, the difference in magnitude between the Atlantic 
and Pacific. While traversing the Orient, Mr. Thurber com- 
menced a series of descriptive letters, which were originally pub- 
lished in the American Grocer, under the title of " Wayside Scenes, 
Thoughts and Fancies," and these have since been incorporated 
as an appendix in his large and valuable statistical work on coffee, 
entitled, " Coffee from Plantation to Cup." These " Wayside 
Scenes " are a novelty in their way, because they present natural 
scenery and views of foreign countries from a unique standpoint. 
The public have been overwhelmed with stereotyped books of 
travel ; one writer after another going over the same ground, and 
describing with wearisome unanimity the same objects. Art, archi- 
tecture, pictures, churches ; carnival scenes in Rome ; bull-fights in 
Madrid ; china in Dresden, and Gobelin tapestry in France ; bells 
in Antwerp, and wind-mills in Holland; Westminster Abbey and 
the Tower — who does not know them all by heart? But Mr. 
Thurber largely ignores all these hackneyed themes, and gives his 
readers an insight into the mode of cultivation and the preparation 
for market of many of the various products in which he and all of 
us are interested, as objects of every-day use, and a knowledge of 
which is as interesting to the mass of readers as the more recherche 
topics of the dilettanti virtuoso. For instance, i-n Japan Mr. Thur- 
ber visits the tea districts and the tea factories, observing with 
keen minuteness the different conditions of the plants, and the pro- 
cess of making all the different brands of tea out of simple green 
leaves from the same plants. Then, on going to China and to 
Java, he notes the difference of treatment and consequent results 
upon the quality of teas of commerce. . 



4 IQ FRANCIS B. THURBER. 

In Canton, in pursuit of his peculiar line of inquiry, he investi- 
gates the cultivation of rice, the process of soy-making, and of pre- 
serving ginger, and of constructing that truly oriental net-work of 
ratan, by which the jars for exportation are protected from injury. 
At Singapore the pepper and tapioca plantations attract his ob- 
servation. In Ceylon the cocoanut, coffee and other industries are 
discussed, while all kinds of spices are hunted out in their natural 
habitats for examination. Arriving in Europe, the first object to 
claim Mr. Thurber's attention in Greece was, not the works of 
Phidias or Praxiteles, not Mars Hill or the plains of Marathon, al- 
though these were not unnoticed, but the very practical matter of 
the currant crop ; and much curious information does he give his 
readers on this unusual subject. Of course olives followed next 
in his descent upon Italy, while the process of making citron and 
macaroni is described with minuteness and fidelity. In Spain we 
have a learned dissertation upon the drying and packing of raisin 
grapes. In France wines are the natural topic to an importer, 
and this curious series of letters closes the scenes upon the conti- 
nent, by a visit, not strictly in the line of business, to a boucherie de 
chevaL 

And London, what does our unique traveller find most worthy 
of description in the ancient city of King Lud? A model English 
grocery store ; the arrangement of which is given with such par- 
ticularity that any New York merchant might follow the pattern 
if so disposed. These letters, which, it must be noted, were writ- 
ten for a trade-journal, and therefore but little indicative of the 
character or tendencies of the writer, contain many facts of value, 
not only to the trade but of interest to every consumer of the 
world's food products, which means everybody. The principal 
object of this long voyage was health, recreation and study, the 
full results of which are not perhaps apparent ; the dissertations 
upon food products, which were written partly for business and 
partly for pleasure, evidently do not occupy a controlling place in 
Mr. Thurber's mind, although they form a good-sized volume, and 



FRANCIS B. THURBER. 4 1 J 

are really a valuable contribution to literature, whether considered 
in a statistical, botanical or mercantile light. This is particularly 
true of the chapters devoted to coffee, which include a description 
of the geographical peculiarities of the different countries where 
this indispensable plant is cultivated, and the climatic effects upon 
the flavor of the berry. Also a description of the Mocha, Java, 
Ceylon, East Indian, Liberian and other African coffees ; the Bra- 
zilian product ; the Haytian and San Domingo varieties ; the Porto 
Rico, Maracaibo and Laguayra ; the Central American and Mexi- 
can. The chemical analysis and medicinal properties are given, 
the adulterations considered and exposed ; the statistics, compris- 
ing everything necessary to be known by the merchant on that 
point, are very full, and are combined with much collateral infor- 
mation. This work also includes many suggestions of practical 
interest to consumers, even to the details of making the coffee for 
daily use. A graphic sketch is also given of the "King of the 
Coffee Trade" (B. G. Arnold), "who for many years ruled the 
coffee market of the country as absolutely as any hereditary mon- 
arch controls his kingdom ; and his influence was felt throughout 
the commercial world." 

In addition to what could be learned by personal observation, 
and by these investigations carried on in various parts of the 
world, is a vast amount of strictly commercial facts, extended over 
long periods of time, and which it would be a work of great labor 
to reproduce. Like a true epicure, Mr. Thurber vehemently 
abhors all mixtures and adulterations ; execrating the chiccory 
delusion, and other substitutes, as profoundly as M. Grevy himself. 
To those not accustomed to special investigations of this nature it 
would be surprising to see how large a subject can be made out 
of the familiar berry. To aid description, Mr. Thurber has illus- 
trated his book with near a score of engravings, several showing 
the various kinds of machinery used in picking, drying, cleaning 
and hulling the coffee berry : two very suggestive plates are those 
showing the different appearance of the pure berry when ground, 
and the same when adulterated with the anathematized chiccory. 



412 FRANCIS B. THURBER. 

While we may regard a portion of Mr. Thurber's writings as a 
direct outcome of his mercantile pursuits, in the matter of politics 
he shows a degree of public spirit and patriotism worthy of imita- 
tion by many of those busy citizens who are so entirely absorbed 
in money-making as to have no thought to spare for the com- 
munity, by and through whom they are enabled to heap up the 
wealth that dazzles them. If we here give Mr. Thurber's views 
on some of the great questions of the day it is simply to show the 
spirit which animates him, and we neither commit ourselves to his 
theories nor reject them, but merely describe them. He is then 
absolutely and solidly entrenched as an Anti-Monopolist, and 
from this standpoint he has taken many opportunities, by voice 
and pen, to impress his sentiments on the community, and in his 
vigorous language to warn his fellow-citizens of the " breakers 
ahead," which he discerns in the growth of the powerful monopolies 
he describes ; in the papers, through the magazines and reviews, 
in privately published brochures, as well as from the platform, he 
has for several years persevered in denouncing these incubi, as he 
graphically describes them. That Mr. Thurber does not object to 
the mere possession of large wealth either by corporations or 
individuals is plain; otherwise he would condemn himself; it is 
not the legitimate accumulation of property which he attacks 
under the name of " Monopoly," but such combinations of in- 
dividuals or corporate bodies as are injurious to the public 
interests, and have become the distributing reservoirs of demoral- 
izing influences, and of political corruption — "the wealthy criminal 
classes," as they have been aptly styled by that outspoken minister 
of the gospel, Howard Crosby 

In several thoughtful papers furnished to Scribners y the Inter- 
national Review and the Nineteenth Century he undertakes to ex- 
plain why the wealthy capitalist realizes so much greater relative 
benefit from what is called the "progress of the age" than does the 
laborer. Steam power and machinery he argues are the forces 
used by capital to multiply products a thousand-fold over the 



FRANCIS B. THURBER. 4 T 3 

possibilities of hand labor ; hence, if the laborer is to have his 
relatively proper share of benefits resulting from these improve- 
ments, he should have higher wages and reduced hours of labor. 
Instead of this, capital keeps down the price of wages by import- 
ing pauper labor from Europe ; Scandinavians, Irish, Italians are 
brought over by thousands to take the place of factory hands, 
longshoremen, or miners who ask for living wages ; the great 
money power thus nullifying the " protective tariff," which does 
indeed keep out the so-called products of pauper labor (thus pre- 
venting all classes from buying at the cheapest rate) ; while 
capital secures to itself the double advantage of importing the 
cheap laborer — who is not on the tariff schedule ! — for its own uses, 
to the oppression and degradation of the American laborer. One, 
then, of the crying wrongs which Mr. Thurber claims that the rich 
monopolist perpetrates upon the working man is in absorbing all, 
or very nearly all, the benefits which have accrued from the inven- 
tive spirit of the age. 

But it is to the Railroad Kings that Mr. Thurber devotes his 
most serious attention and against whom he plies his most earnest 
arguments. These monopolists par-excellence he charges with 
having first defrauded the people by falsifying construction ac- 
counts ; by watering stock and by extortionate fares ; and injuring 
some for the benefit of others by unjustly discriminating in freight- 
rates, and fostering other kinds of monopolies by preferential 
agreements, and then, by debauching judges, corrupting legislators, 
and bribing voters, intimidating employes and even invading the 
Cabinet and influencing the late head of the nation to make ap- 
pointments consistent only with their exclusive interests. In 
proof of all these accusations, Mr. Thurber quotes from public and 
official documents ; from the sworn testimony of some of the 
leading capitalists of the country, and from the personal experience 
of business men like himself. 

Believing most thoroughly that these giant monopolies threaten 
to destroy the liberty of the citizen, to control the political ma- 



41 4 FRANCIS B. THURBER. 

chinery of the country, and actually to govern it, through the cor- 
rupt use of its enormous money power, Mr. Thurber has devoted 
his time, money and influence to arouse the community to a sense 
of the danger to the whole country which lies hidden in the cen- 
tral offices of the railroad magnates. Throwing himself into the 
movement as a working leader of the Anti-Monopoly party, he 
took an active share in the last presidential election, and on many 
occasions his oratorical arguments on the political and lecture 
platform have carried conviction to many listeners who originally 
came to criticise. In one of these, delivered before the Thomas 
Jefferson Club of Brooklyn, New York, Mr. Thurber takes the 
ground that the abolition of the law of primogeniture by our revo- 
lutionary ancestors is becoming practically of non-effect so far 
as the principle aimed at is concerned. The old law of primo- 
geniture was intended to. keep landed property in a few hands by 
natural descent ; and thus was created a landed aristocracy. It 
was the policy of our early legislators to prevent this accumula- 
tion, believing it best for the interests of the whole country that 
wealth should be more generally and equally diffused ; but our 
anti-monopoly orator argues that the railroad kings, by their great 
gains, and especially through the immense land grants which they 
have wrung from Congress and the several States, have in fact 
already become a landed aristocracy, and threaten to remain so in 
perpetuity. 

It is rare indeed that a person in active and successful business 
feels impelled to turn aside from the counting-room and mart to 
engage in the work of political reform ; in fact, too many of our 
business men neglect altogether their political duties, and, shirk- 
ing the responsibilities of citizenship, leave the control of such 
matters, so far as they are concerned, in the hands of the design- 
ing and the ignorant; we look upon it therefore as highly com- 
mendable when a man overcrowded with other duties still finds 
time to warn his fellow-citizens of dangers which he believes 
threaten our free institutions. Not to despair of the republic was 



FRANCIS B. THURBER. 4-15 

one of the virtues demanded of every Roman citizen ; that he may 
not have to despair of it, Mr. Thurber sets his lance in rest, and ever 
and anon makes most vigorous thrusts at the tyrannical power which 
menaces its future. While taking a lively interest in public affairs 
he has long occupied a first place in the commercial world ; he 
was one of the founders of the New York Board of Trade, and 
has long been a prominent member of the New York Chamber 
of Commerce and other commercial organizations. 

Though very earnest in what he considers right, Mr. Thurber 
is of too genial a disposition to be wholly absorbed in business or 
politics ; he has a strong humoristic trait in his character, and his 
imagination, if he would take time to give it play, is capable of 
producing far other productions than business statistics; in his 
" Character Sketches " we get more than glimpses of a very fine 
imaginative wit. He is a young man yet, and doubtless his best 
literary work is not yet performed. 

The business of this firm extends to other cities and countries 
than our own, where "The Thurbers" have depots, notably their 
branch houses in London and in Bordeaux. The firm are not 
mere buyers and sellers ; they manufacture largely as well as deal 
in all varieties of food products. They have a capital invested in 
this business estimated at several millions, beside large sums in 
real estate. The firm until recently consisted of Horace K. Thur- 
ber, Francis B. Thurber, Albert E. Whyland, Alexis Godillot, Jr., 
and Jacob S. Gates, but owing to impaired health and the desire 
to take much needed rest Mr. H. K. Thurber retired from its 
active management February i, 1884, and several junior partners 
were admitted. Mr. Godillot is in charge of the Bordeaux branch 
house, and Mr. Gates in that of the London establishment. It is 
to such public-spirited citizens as the Thurbers, and their like, 
that the metropolis owes much of its character for enterprise, and 
a certainty felt by the whole country that whenever called upon 
for public service, or a large charity, there is sure to be a generous 
response. 



A. A. LOW. 

Mr. Abiel Abbot Low, ex-President of the New York Cham- 
ber of Commerce, and a merchant of fifty years' standing in the 
metropolis, is a native of Salem, Massachusetts. While still a 
minor his father, the late Seth Low, removed to New York, and 
opened a business in chemicals on Broad street. Abiel was early 
inducted into the mysteries of imports and exports, his father hav- 
ing connections with the China and East India trade, and his sons 
acting as clerks until of age, when they successively became part- 
ners. When a young man, Mr. A. A. Low visited China to ob- 
serve the indications of trade, while at the same time filling a clerk- 
ship ; he was subsequently invited to become partner in the house 
of Russell & Co., Canton, which offer he accepted, remaining in 
that connection eight years, from 1833 to 1841. 

Having dissolved his relations with Russell & Co., he returned 
to the United States, and having fortunately taken passage on a 
fast sailer — steamers not then being employed in the Eastern 
trade — he was able to announce to his own house a remarkable rise 
in the price of tea. The firm, already arranged, of "A. A. Low & 
Brothers," were thus enabled to take advantage of the market, and 
by this transaction it is said that Mr. Low made $20,000. This 
gave the house also its reputation as the leading American firm in 
the China trade, which it long preserved. Though tea was a lead- 
ing article, it was only one among many China products imported 
by the Low Brothers — sending out assorted cargoes, of which 
clocks, ginseng, and cotton prints always formed a part ; their 
ships returned laden with teas, rice, ginger, nankeens, silk, crapes, 
mattings, bamboo, lacquered ware, etc., etc. 

From the China trade to the Japan trade was a natural transi- 
(416) 



ABIEL ABBOT LOW. 4 1 7 

tion, or rather addition, for, when the latter was added, the former 
was still retained ; and it was in connection with this new opening 
to commerce that Mr. Low made his journey around the world. 
Having reached San Francisco, via the Isthmus route, in 1867, he 
proceeded from thence to Hong Kong and Yokohama, going in 
the first steamer of the " China mail " line. While in Japan he 
established a branch house there, and then proceeding to Cal- 
cutta, where the house also had correspondents, he returned, via 
Europe, to the United States. 

For several years in succession Mr. Low was President of the 
Chamber of Commerce, resigning that position previous to his ex- 
tended journey. In his official action, at the head of this important 
organization, Mr. Low is remembered as displaying, not only great 
executive ability, but a very keen judgment in the various, often 
conflicting, interests which came before that body for consideration. 
During the war this firm lost many vessels, which, with their 
valuable cargoes, were captured by Confederate cruisers under 
Admiral Semmes and others ; but these personal losses did not 
weaken Mr. Low's sense of duty toward the support of the 
Government. He not only stimulated the patriotism of others by 
his public attitude, but gave freely of his means for the same 
object ; particularly was he interested in those distressed factory 
operatives in England who were thrown out of employment by 
thousands in the manufacturing cities by the interruption of the 
cotton-trade on account of the blockade of the Southern ports. 
When the merchants of New York organized for their relief, Mr. 
Low not only contributed largely to the funds, but acted as 
treasurer, and largely as corresponding secretary, devoting many 
hours to this international benevolence amid the constant pressure 
of other demands upon his time. He also aided, financially, the 
United States Sanitary Commission. 

Mr. Low's business speculations have not been limited to mer- 
cantile affairs ; for many years he has been interested in various 
railroads. In 1872 he, with his brother Josiah, lost about half a 
27 



41 8 ABIEL ABBOT LOW. 

million of dollars in stock of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. 
From this loss Mr. A. A. Low quickly rallied, but his brother's 
health was seriously affected by the nervous strain he had under- 
gone. Again, in 1873, during that epidemic of falling securities, 
Mr. Low is said to have lost half his fortune, and it was well that 
his mercantile affairs could be depended upon to furnish fresh 
funds for speculative fields. He had his financial recompenses 
later, being one of those who made a small fortune out of the 
" Nickel-Plate " venture. Not less than a million of dollars is 
credited to him on account of the New York Central & Hudson 
River Railroad. Indeed, his more recent successes in speculative 
securities have given some force to the rumor that the old busi- 
ness in Burling slip is likely to be abandoned, and that Mr. Low 
will establish a banking-house. When the Lows commenced the 
trade with China there was comparatively little competition ; now, 
however, the rivalry of other houses is very keen, and it would 
not be surprising if the firm-name of A. A. Low & Co. disappears 
from the mercantile circles of New York, to reappear among the 
financiers of Wall street. Mr. Low has not dealt very extensively 
in real estate, but holds some very valuable property in Brooklyn. 
His residence on Columbia Heights overlooks, on the easterly 
side, a small park, part of which he owns. This small plot of land 
thus reserved from the invasion of brick and mortar is a very 
restful spot for the eyes of all passers, occupying, as it does, a 
section of land in the most fashionable part of the city, and which 
would bring a very high price if put into the market, and for 
which reservation every passenger by the Wall street ferry is 
duly grateful. Mr. Low erected last year, on Court street, oppo- 
site the City Hall, in Brooklyn, an immense brick building for 
offices. It is seven stories high, with a clock tower rising many 
feet above all adjoining buildings. This structure he has christened 
the " Garfield building," the statement of which fact will relieve the 
writer from describing more particularly his political proclivities. 
At his residence in Newport Mr. Low spends the summer months, 



ABIEL ABBOT LOW. 419 

About 1850 Mr. Low married the daughter of Mr. Mott Bebell, 
a man of considerable wealth and large real-estate owner in 
Brooklyn. This lady, at the time of her marriage to Mr. A. A. 
Low, was the widow of his brother. He has several children, 
among them being Mr. Seth Low, the present Mayor of Brooklyn. 
In all that relates to the prosperity of both New York and Brook- 
lyn, Mr. Low has acted the part of a good citizen, helping forward 
by his money and his influence particularly those literary and 
aesthetic enterprises which have given a character of refinement 
and culture to the latter city. He was one of three gentlemen to 
whom is mainly owing the establishment of the Long Island His- 
torical Society on a firm and permanent financial basis, helping to 
form an endowment fund which has placed the Society beyond de- 
pendence upon the fluctuating numbers of annual subscribers. 
The family's old homestead on Concord street is now occupied by 
a charitable society. Nor has he forgotten the place of his birth, 
the old historic Salem. In 1874 he gave to that city the sum of 
$5,000 to establish the " Low Educational Fund." The object of 
this is to aid poor students through college. The present year 
(1883) he has added to this fund the sum of $2,500. 

In religious faith Mr. Low is a Unitarian, and in all pertaining 
to the church of his choice he is a liberal donor. His name is 
associated with many good works, and his old age is a happy and 
honored one. 



SILAS C. HERRING. 

"Herring's Safes" are as widely known as the circuits of com- 
merce extend, but very little is known of the original constructor. 
His career, like that of many other millionaires, commenced widely 
divergent from where it ended, and the business in which he finally 
made his great fortune was never for a moment thought of by him, 
until circumstances wholly unsought placed the possibility in his 
way. His merit is, that he seized the opportunity when it offered. 
Silas C. Herring was born in the town of Brookfield, Massachu- 
setts, in the year 1804, and received the ordinary school education 
of that time and place, which was tolerably thorough in the " three 
R's," but did not go much beyond. Massachusetts has always 
been a great State to emigrate from: while Maine and New Hamp- 
shire people pour into Boston, and French Canadians settle in the 
agricultural parts, every year witnesses a great exodus of young 
men from all parts of the old Bay State to New York, Chicago, and 
the Great West. Silas C. Herring happened to have an uncle in 
the grocery business in Albany, and so, when he was about seven- 
teen years of age, he determined to go there, having tired of the little 
inland town which offered no new openings to its ambitious youths. 
Very slenderly equipped was he, with a single suit of clothes, and 
only a few dimes above the necessary travelling fare. His clothes 
were homespun and home-cut, but his hopes were large, and he 
thought nothing of his rustic appearance, for he knew nothing of 
city life. There was then no Boston and Albany Railroad, nor 
had the great Hoosac Tunnel been dreamed of: private convey- 
ance or the stage coach was the only resource except pedestrian- 1 
ism. In the grocery business he remained about six years. After 
this period the uncle thought there was more money to be made 
C420) 




SILAS C. HERRING. 



SILAS C. HERRING. 421 

in the lottery business than in selling groceries. There was then 
little or no prejudice against lottery, and in some States they were 
even organized to aid in raising money for public works. Selling 
lottery tickets fifty years ago was considered quite a different 
moral action from what it would be viewed at the present time. 
At all events into this business uncle and nephew entered, 
and with such good success that at the end of a few years, 
when the elder partner died, the share of Silas amounted to 
$10,000. Mr. Herring continued the business in connection 
with Mr. R. Gough a few years longer, and then disposed of it, 
wishing to come to New York, and enter into some more legiti- 
mate trade. 

In 1834, having considerable capital, he opened a wholesale 
grocery store at No. $?> Front street with a partner named 
Green — the firm-name being " Herring & Green." Unfortu- 
nately the next year, 1835, occurred the "great fire," in which 
they were burnt out, and though fully insured they got noth- 
ing: the insurance offices having failed from the same cause. 
But having good credit — the circumstances of the failure be- 
ing so exceptional — they were enabled to start again ; but 
two years later came the great financial crash of 1837, when 
they suffered shipwreck with so many others ; and this com- 
ing so soon after the fire the firm failed to recover from the 
shock. 

At this epoch, or soon after, Mr. Herring happened to meet 
that quaint old scientific genius Mr. Enos Wilder, who, among 
other things, had been experimenting with incombustible materials, 
and in this pursuit had discovered the value of plaster of Paris as 
a non-conductor of heat. The so-called " safes " of that period 
were merely iron chests lined with wood: of course very imper- 
fect, if exposed to a fire hot enough to make the iron red hot 
the wood must ignite ; but when Mr. Wilder announced his dis- 
covery he was met with laughs of derision and utter incredulity by 
the merchants whom his invention was destined so greatly to 



42 2 SILAS C. HERRING. 

benefit. To test the comparative value of the " safes " in ordinary 
use, and the new " Salamander " safe constructed by Mr. Wilder, 
the latter challenged a public exhibition of the merits in 1840. 
The place selected for the experiment was the Coffee House 
Hook at the foot of Wall street ; an immense fire being built 
within an enclosure of brickwork, and an old style "safe" and a 
V Salamander" being subjected to the same amount of heat, it was 
found that all the contents of the old safe had been consumed, 
while everything within the " Salamander " remained intact. Fore- 
seeing the immense popularity which must result from this suc- 
cessful test of the Salamander, Mr. Herring accepted the agency 
for the sale of the new safe, and so well did he push the business 
that at the end of three years he was enabled to buy the sole 
right to manufacture the Salamanders by paying a royalty of one 
cent per pound to Mr. Wilder. The first factory was located 
on Water street at the corner of De Peyster. The price of 
these safes at first ranged from forty dollars to two hundred 
and fifty — a mere nothing to the cost of a modern first-class 
" Herring." 

As soon as Mr. Herring became the sole possessor of the Sal- 
amander safe business, he began to make experiments looking to- 
wards all possible improvements ; of course the changes made 
were kept secret from the public; but having full faith in its su- 
periority over all others, Mr. Herring decided to offer another 
public test, and he issued a general challenge to all safe manufac- 
turers in the United States to submit their safes with his to a cru- 
cial experiment. The test was to be made as before at the foot 
of Wall street. Two New York firms and one Philadelphia man- 
ufacturer accepted the invitation, and sent forward their model 
safes ; and these three, with one of Mr. Herring's, were placed in 
the brick furnace prepared for them. They were subjected to a 
powerful fire for several hours ; when the mass of fire, brick, and 
iron had cooled sufficiently to permit examination, the Salamander 
safe alone was found to have preserved its contents uninjured. 



SILAS C. HERRING. 423 

An unforeseen artistic result was an incident of this experiment. 
Horace Greeley having been present during the testing of the 
safes, the idea seized upon Mr. Herring to cause a large picture 
to be engraved representing the event, with Mr. Greeley and 
James Gordon Bennett prominent in the foreground. But fate 
soon provided for Mr. Herring a better test of the practical value 
of his safe than any pre-arranged experiments could do. 

In 1845 tne Tribune building was destroyed by fire. In the 
office was a large Salamander safe, containing valuable books, 
papers and bonds ; when the safe fell among the debris in the 
ruins, it was covered up with several thicknesses of wall, which fell 
upon it, and on these bricks the water froze, helping to keep the 
cold air from reaching the safe below ; it was some days after the 
rubbish had been cleared away before the safe had become cool 
enough to be opened ; when it was, to the great relief of Mr. 
Greeley and the delight of Mr. Herring, every book and paper 
was found to be safe. The days .of artificial experiments were 
over. As a result of the reputation thus fortuitously added to the 
safe, Mr. Herring was obliged to remove his factory to ampler 
quarters, and we next find him occupying a large building on 
Washington street; but by 1849 tn i s location had become too 
strait, and the present site was built and occupied, at the junc- 
tion of Ninth avenue and Hudson street. This building covers 
half an acre of ground, is five stories in height, and in it are em- 
ployed 600 men. Instead of #40 safes, those ranging from $500 
to $50,000 are now manufactured. 

While there was anything to learn about safe-making, Mr. Her- 
ring never ceased his inquiries nor his efforts to attain perfection. 
He set chemists to work experimenting on new combinations, to 
find absolute non-conductors against any amount of heat by which 
a safe could be surrounded. Shortly previous to the first London 
Exposition, Mr. Herring paid a large sum to a chemist of Phila- 
delphia for the information that carbonated chalk, which is a re- 
siduum from the manufacture of mineral water, was the best 



424 SILAS C. HERRING. 

resistant of heat discovered up to that date. A safe was made with 
this non-conducting substance as an interlining, was taken to Lon- 
don, and a challenge sent forth to all European manufacturers to 
enter into a joint test of the respective merits. No one ventured 
to take up the gage thus boldly thrown to the world. Mr. Her- 
ring, who was a typical Yankee, and a sensational advertiser by 
nature, then placed a $1,000 bill in the safe, and offered to give it 
to any one who could pick the lock. This induced a great many 
expert mechanics — and doubtless some professional burglars, too, 
if the whole truth were known — to try their skill upon it, but none 
succeeded — adding a new note of triumph to the paeans sung by 
the builders of the " Herring Safe." In four years after Mr. Her- 
ring's agreement with Mr. Wilder had elapsed the original patent 
expired, during which time the latter had received $1 50,000 in 
royalties. Of course, Mr. Herring had patented his own improve- 
ments, and henceforth his name alone was recognized in the busi- 
ness. What profit he had made out of the old patent is not pre- 
cisely known, but that it was very large no one acquainted with 
the popularity of his safes can doubt. 

Though so energetic a business man, Mr. Herring was never so 
entirely engrossed in his own affairs as to neglect his duty as a 
citizen. He was an "old-line Henry Clay-Daniel Webster Whig," 
and later a Republican. While he was quite a young man in Al- 
bany, he was appointed by the governor as Paymaster of the Fifth 
Regiment of State Artillery, and was afterwards elected its colonel. 
In 1847 ne was chosen Assistant- Alderman of the Ninth Ward, 
and the next year he served as alderman. He was one of the 
original incorporators of the Juvenile Asylum, and liberally con- 
tributed towards its support; his benefactions, however, were 
mostly of a private nature while he lived. He was a director in 
several banks — the Broadway, the Importers' and Traders', the 
Manhattan, and the Broadway Savings Banks ; as also the Na- 
tional Life Insurance Company, the Park Fire Insurance Company, 
and the Firemen's Fund Company. 



SILAS C. HERRING. 425 

During the civil war Mr. Herring was a strong Union man ; 
two of his sons volunteered, joined the army, and went to the 
front. One of them came not back — young Silas F. Herring fell 
in the battle of Murfreesboro. His other son returned, to become 
the head of the manufacturing firm after the withdrawal of his 
father from active business. 

Mr. Herring lived to his seventy-eighth year, dying suddenly 
of apoplexy in his country home at Plainfield, New Jersey. He 
was for many years an attendant at the Church of the Divine Pa- 
ternity (Universalist), in New York, of which the celebrated Dr. 
Chapin was long pastor, now Dr. Pullman's. He left a widow and 
son and two daughters. His public bequests were numerous. 



JOHN BURNSIDE. 

One day in July, 1883, ten gentlemen of New Orleans might 
be seen entering a mansion on Washington street in that city ; 
proceeding towards a desk in the dining-room they commenced a 
systematic search of the contents ; presently one of the party laid 
his hand on a small buff-colored envelope on which was written, 
" This is my holographic will : John Burnside." The bank with 
which the deceased principally dealt had already been visited by 
the same party of investigators, who hoped that a will of recent 
date might there be deposited — that which had been found had 
been in existence nearly thirty years, its date being April, 1857. 
Its author was a rich bachelor who had died on the 10th of June 
previously at the age of eighty. There was some mystery about 
his origin, but the truth was probably told by his adopted father, 
Andrew Bierne, who relates that he was one day riding through 
Greenbrier county, Virginia, when he stopped to water his horse 
at a brook, and there found an infant boy carefully wrapped up 
and asleep on a bed of rushes. Not seeing anybody near, and 
searching vainly for its parents, he took the child to his own home, 
where it was kindly cared for, and no one appearing to claim it, 
he named the boy Burnside, as having been found by the side of a 
burn (or brook). Andrew Bierne, who was himself in mercantile 
business, brought the lad up in the same ; made him successively 
clerk and agent, and finally established him in New Orleans with 
his own son, Oliver. They dealt in various kinds of goods ; he 
had large sugar plantations, and when General Butler was in com- 
mand at New Orleans he saved his crop from confiscation by 
claiming to be a British subject; one instance, at least, in which it 
is certain that the general was imposed upon. For a great many 
(426) 



JOHN BURN SIDE. 427 

years he had the largest dry-goods store in the city, and was often 
called " the Stewart of New Orleans." 

Mr. Burnside was in many respects an eccentric man. He lived 
in a large one-story stone house, the house and grounds occupy- 
ing a whole block, at the corner of Washington and Camp streets; 
though not considered a social man, he was fond of entertaining 
foreigners of distinction and some few of his fellow-citizens, but 
usually lived alone with his servants ; he delighted in the collec- 
tion of paintings, of which he had a large gallery which he annually 
threw open to the public, and once a year also gave a party at 
his house, to which every one whom he knew was invited. He 
would not allow himself to be importuned to give to this and that 
at other people's desire, and from this fact he acquired the char- 
acter of a very close man, but he had his own way of doing things, 
and at one time gave $500,000 to the State of Louisiana to be 
divided among charitable institutions, leaving the State to choose 
which. 

While Mr. Burnside lived he always said he had no relations, 
nor was he ever willing to talk of his origin or early days ; a per- 
son who had been fellow-clerk with him at one time, calling upon 
him when he was in the full tide of success at New Orleans, was 
received by him very cordially, but when the visitor unfortunately 
referred to his host's early life the latter became enraged and did 
not again speak to him upon any subject, then or afterwards. Yet 
w r hen Mr. Burnside died and it became known that he had left 
from $5,000,000 to $8,000,000, hosts of professed relations sprang 
up in different quarters, some people even pretending to locate his 
birth-place and give the names of his ancestors. Every one with 
the name of Burnside began to claim him for a cousin, but the 
public administrator was sharp, and the judge decided to admit to 
probate the will of 1857. By this testament, written by the hand 
of the testator, but at a time when his estate did not much exceed 
$2,000,000, Mr. Oliver Bierne, of Virginia, son of the gentleman * 
who had rescued him in infancy, was made the residuary legatee, 



428 JOHN BURNSIDE. 

after the payment of the following bequests: To Burnside Mc- 
Stea, $50,000; to Burnside Value, $25,000; to Nelson McStea, 
$35,000; to Jesse Value, $10,000. Several charitable institutions 
received $5,000 each. The only legal question in the mind of the 
judge was whether the legatee, Oliver Bierne, could receive the 
whole estate, or whether he was limited to the amount of property 
which was possessed by Mr. Burnside at the time the will was 
made. Some of the legacies had lapsed by the death of the parties, 
and thus over $6,000,000 — for the estate was proved to be worth 
$8,000,000 — was in a fair way of passing into the hands of persons 
unknown to the testator or of being appropriated by the State, 
because no will of recent date could be found. 



JOHN A. APPLETON. 

Mr. John Adams Appleton was a member of the great publish- 
ing house of Daniel Appleton & Co. The original firm consisted 
only of its founder and his son William H. They had but a small 
capital, and the first work they published was a tiny little book 
composed of scripture texts, one for each day in the year, called 
M Daily Crumbs." This venture cost the firm seventy-five dollars 
for the first edition, one copy of which is preserved in a silver 
casket by Mr. William H. Appleton as a relic of those early days. 
The senior member retired from business in 1849, and then the 
firm consisted of William H., John A. (the subject of our sketch), 
Daniel S. and S. F. Appleton. Another member, admitted in 
1865, was George S., now deceased; he was the founder of the 
illustrated book department. But no matter who is the head of 
the firm, or of how many members it consists, the old name is re- 
tained, and probably always will be, as this was the special desire 
of the founder of the house. 

From the small beginning which we have described the Apple- 
tons have gone on steadily increasing their business and widening 
the circle of their " lines of publication." The original Appleton 
bookstore was a very plain, unnoticeable place, occupying part of 
the site on Broadway where now stands the massive pile of 
granite, the Equitable building. Its first " up-town " movement 
carried the store to the corner of Broadway and Leonard street, 
now occupied by the New York Life Insurance Company, the upper 
portion of the building being then leased by the " Society Library." 
Here the Appletons remained till 1850. After vacating that 
home, they settled, as was thought permanently, some blocks 
higher up Broadway, between Howard and Grand streets. Some 

(429) 



43° JOHN A. APPLETON. 

three years ago they abandoned the retail trade and built an im- 
mense structure of iron and brick on Bond street, near Broadway, 
seven stones in height, filling a lot seventy-six feet front by one 
hundred in depth. They occupy the whole of this with their whole- 
sale trade. The acorn has become a towering oak, majestic in 
height, with its branches reaching in all directions. We may truly 
say that there is no department of literature of any importance 
which is not included in the catalogue of the Appletons. One of 
its great works, which every student appreciates, is the American 
Cyclopedia, which is a heavier investment than any other firm has 
put in one set of publications. Religious books, scientific, school 
books, novels, art publications, have all been as well or better pre- 
sented through this firm than any other in the city. Yet, experi- 
enced as they are as presumed judges of public taste, it is a curious 
fact that they seriously debated among themselves whether "Lo- 
thair" would sell! and finally, after discussing whether they should 
print an edition of one or two thousand, and deciding on the 
latter number, they were astounded to find orders come pouring 
in, before even a single copy was ready, to the amount of eighty 
thousand ! Another instance was their rejection of Miss Muhl- 
bach's historical novels, which had also been refused by all the 
leading publishers of New York ; but it so happened that a junior 
member of the firm travelling in Georgia bought an ill-looking 
book, printed upon straw paper, thinking this a curiosity. Turning 
over its pages, he became interested in the story, and brought it 
home to urge the firm to reprint it — it was Miss Muhlbach's 
" Court of Joseph II." But perhaps from no issue of this house 
has the general public derived more advantage than from that 
valuable serial, the " Popular Science Monthly," which has kept in 
the advance rank with the best thinkers of the times, and, being 
in the periodical form, is read by thousands who rarely ever buy a 
bound book. The Appletons' printing establishment and bindery 
is in Kent avenue, Brooklyn. The press-room is supplied with 
twenty-one Adams presses ; the bindery alone is two hundred and 



JOHN A. APPLETON. 43 1 

fifty feet long and five stories high. The total number of employes 
in this mammoth building is about six hundred. 

Mr. John A. Appleton has been a member of this great firm 
since 1849, and was a son of the founder. The family originated 
in Haverhill, Massachusetts, but removed to New York in 1825, 
when John A. was about ten years of age ; after his admission to 
the firm his life was so identified with it that, beyond its interests, 
he had but one other subject that divided his attention from his 
home life. He was a devoted Christian, and the church with 
which he was connected at Clifton, Staten Island, where he had 
lived for many years, was the object of never-ceasing solicitude 
with him. He was a very quiet, somewhat reticent man, dignified 
in manner, but very kind-hearted and charitable, but usually took 
effectual means to prevent his gifts being spoken of even among 
his friends. To him, perhaps, more than other members of the 
firm, except George S., are the employes of the great factory in 
Brooklyn indebted for many benefits and privileges not often pro- 
vided for employes by the capitalists who profit by their labor. In 
this establishment there is a restaurant in the building, where meals 
are furnished to the workpeople, both men and women, at the bare 
cost. There is an excellent circulating library for their use, while 
in the "Appleton Mission," a neat structure near the factory, re- 
ligious instruction and services are offered to all who choose to 
avail themselves of it free of charge ; two " benefit associations " 
have also been formed among the people. In this way probably 
more good has been effected than follows in many cases from 
large donations to organized societies. No one has ever heard of 
the Appleton hands going on a " strike." Mr. John A. Appleton 
was a member of the firm for thirty-two years, and his death, at 
the age of sixty-five, on July 13th, 1881, was the occasion of un- 
numbered eulogistic notices wherever the name of Appleton was 
known ; and where is it not known ? At a meeting of the pub- 
lishers and book-trade, held in New York immediately upon the 
news of his decease, and which was attended by all the leading 



43 2 JOHN A. APPLETON. 

men in the business who were then in the city, the following was 
one of the resolutions passed, which expressed the sense of the 
meeting: "Not only had Mr. Appleton eminent business qualities 
but he was alike known for his unswerving integrity and fidelity to 
every trust. He was, in all his relations, faithful, patient, conscien- 
tious and true. Though undemonstrative, he was full of kindly 
feelings, and always considerate of others. He was honored by 
his associates and employes, who, in their constant contact with 
him, knew the warmth of his heart, the generous impulses of his 
nature, and the uprightness and wisdom which characterized his 
daily Christian life." Daniel Appleton & Co. are among the few 
very wealthy book-publishers in the United States. 




GEORGE I. SENEY. 



GEORGE I. SENEY. 

Among the millionaires of New York and vicinity, Mr. George 
I. Seney has recently "achieved greatness" by the almost unique 
rapidity with which he has, during the last semi-decade, poured 
forth his munificent gifts in the shape of donations to institutions 
of learning, for the interests of art, and to objects of charity. Un- 
like many of the successful men of this country, who have arisen 
from poverty by their own exertions, or who have left the farm to 
try their fortunes in the metropolis, arriving here without means 
and without friends, George I. Seney had a fair start in life, and 
came not only of a respectable, but of a somewhat distinguished 
family. Among his ancestors and connections there were several 
known to fame in the early history of the United States. The 
Seneys originally came from France and settled in Queen Anne 
county, Maryland. One branch of the family still lives there. 
Seney is a word of locality in southern France, being the name of 
a mountain and pass into Italy. 

Mr. Seney's great-grandfather was Commodore James Nichol- 
son, the first naval officer honored with that title in this country. 
,His grandfather was a member of both the Continental and Fed- 
eral Congress, representing the State of Maryland. Of his female 
relatives one was the wife of Colonel William Few, United States 
Senator from Georgia ; another was the wife of Judge Mont- 
gomery, of Maryland, and a third was a wife of Albert Gallatin, 
the distinguished scholar, statesman and financier. His father 
was an able and respected clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, a resident of New York, and pastor of the Mulberry 
Street Church, at that time holding a leading position in the de- 
nomination. When the "uptown movement" began among the 
28 (433) 



434 GEORGE I. SENEY. 

churches, it was mainly from this body that the fashionable Fourth 
Avenue Methodist Church was formed, taking- the name of " St. 
Paul's." Thus we see that the early connections and associations 
of the youthful Seney were among persons of standing in society, 
and its peculiar nature accounts for his predilection for institutions 
of the Methodist sect. This tendency was still further confirmed 
by his education at the Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Con- 
necticut, where he spent several years, but completing his studies 
at the University of the City of New York, graduating in 1847, 
about the time of his majority. 

He appears to have had no misgivings or doubts as to what his 
future course was to be. He entered at once, in a subordinate 
position, the Atlantic Bank in Brooklyn ; but Brooklyn was not 
then the great city it has since become, and Mr. Seney wanted to 
get nearer to the great central heart-beat of commerce in the 
metropolis, and soon procured an engagement in the Gallatin 
National Bank, but in neither of these places had he seen any 
prospect of rapid promotion, and he did not mean always to be a 
clerk. We next find him in the Bank of North America, and still 
again changing to where the possibilities looked brighter, and 
where, in fact, he soon received the position of paying-teller, 
namely, in the Metropolitan Bank ; from this he soon rose to 
cashier, and has now been for several years its president. 

But this gradual rise by no means satisfied the desires, or filled 
up the business capacity of Mr. Seney. Like so many of our 
greatest financiers, he had been gradually acquiring experience in 
the manipulation of railroad stocks ; and from the success of his 
operations in these, he soon became largely interested in several 
roads, nominally as a director, but in several with a preponder- 
ating influence, which practically gave him the control of the 
management. 

A characteristic mode of operation with Mr. Seney has been to 
ally himself with two or three, or more, responsible men, such as 
Alexander M. White, John T. Martin, Nelson Robinson, etc. ; and 



GEORGE I. SENEY. 435 

out of small, weak western roads build larger, new and important 
lines ; first by consolidation, and then by extension. One of the 
first of these operations in which he was engaged was the im- 
provement of the Peoria, Decatur & Hannibal. Peoria, as is well 
known, is one of the most important towns of the West — consid- 
ered as a railroad centre. It is also the centre of the western 
whiskey distillery interest, which increases its importance as fur- 
nishing freight to the Peoria, Decatur & Hannibal Railroad, which 
is now in a very flourishing condition, and pays a dividend on its 
income bonds, as well as its regular debt. The terminus of this 
road was formerly at Mattoon, but since Mr. Seney took hold of 
the stock it has been extended to Evansville, on the Ohio. The 
Lake Erie & Western Railroad was organized under similar cir- 
cumstances, this being made up out of a combination of several 
small local roads, dexterously welded together under Mr. Seney's 
influence into a very important line. The Seney system of rail- 
roads, as it* is called in the South, begins at Bristol, on the border 
of Tennessee and Virginia, and extends through Chattanooga to 
Rome, Georgia, thence to Selma, Alabama, and on to the Missis- 
sippi river. This system covers the Memphis & Charleston Rail- 
road, and from Rome, Georgia, it extends to Brunswick on the 
coast, and its connections reach from Norfolk and from the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad to the lower Mississippi and the lower Atlantic. 
Mr. Seney's largest operation of this nature, however, as regards 
extent and business, and we may add profit, has been the enlarge- 
ment and improvement of the Ohio Central. A portion of this 
had been in operation several years before Mr. Seney became 
connected with it. When he was placed on the Board of Direc- 
tors everything was changed — he may be truly said to have re- 
created it. The improvements he planned and the extensions 
carried out now brings the Ohio Central Railroad the entire length 
of the State, from north to south, dividing it in nearly equi-distant 
portions east and west. Commencing at Toledo, on the western 
shore of Lake Erie, the road runs through a rich farming and 



436 GEORGE I. SENEY. 

valuable coal-mining country, passing through Columbus, the capi- 
tal of the State, and thence southerly to Point Pleasant, on the 
Ohio, crossing that river over a magnificent bridge, and making 
its present terminus at Charleston, West Virginia. One of his 
latest and most successful operations was his sale of the New York, 
Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, commonly known as the " Nickle- 
plate." He got rid of this in good time, harvesting abundant 
gains. Since it has passed into other hands it is quoted at merely 
nominal prices at the Stock Exchange. Mr. Seney seems to have 
a prophetic instinct of when to buy and when to sell, and he rarely, 
if ever, makes a mistake. 

Unlike some others of our millionaires, Mr. Seney has never let 
all his thoughts become absorbed in money-making. A care for 
religion, art, education and the alleviation of human misery has 
been his pastime and recreation. He has gathered in his home 
one of the choicest collections of paintings which adorn any pri- 
vate gallery, and these he has freely lent for public exhibition to 
aid in raising funds for charitable work. During the winter of 
1883 some sixty of his choicest pictures were loaned to the Society 
of Sheltering Arms Nursery to aid the bazaar, held for its benefit 
in the Brooklyn Art Association Many of these were by foreign 
artists and of great value ; but native talent had not been over- 
looked, and in the collection were many specimens from New 
York and Brooklyn studios. 

Of the large donations of money made by Mr. Seney to various 
objects, it is not easy to specify the most important, since all the 
beneficiaries had good claims to recognition. Among the first 
was his princely gift to his Alma Mater, the Wesleyan University, 
at Middletown, Connecticut, which has amounted in the aggregate 
to over half a million dollars. The best feature of this donation 
was his arrangement for the founding of thirty-six scholarships, for 
the purpose of aiding gifted but impecunious students ; the aid 
furnished to each adjudged worthy (after a competitive examina- 
tion) varies from $100 to $250, according to the proficiency of the 



GEORGE I. SENEY. 437 

student, so that all are stimulated to do their best, and the reward 
coming in the shape of a prize for merit, does not injure the self- 
respect, or humiliate the young man who accepts it. 

Several literary institutions in the State of Georgia have shared 
in the munificence of Mr. Seney. One of the first of these was 
the "Lucy Cobb Institute." This gift was drawn forth by an 
appeal from a graduate, Miss Storal, of Athens, Georgia. The 
precise object of the application was for funds to build a chapel for 
the school. The sum required was $9,000. Mr. Seney, in reply, 
offered to give $5,000 if the citizens would raise $4,000. The 
energy of Miss Storal secured the whole, and the structure is to be 
called the Seney-Storal Chapel. 

To a Methodist College in Georgia he sent $20,000, and to the 
Wesleyan Female College, at Macon, Georgia, he has given in 
various sums a total of $100,000. A smaller gift, but absolutely 
unique in its object, was that of $1,000 to the general building 
fund of the " People's Church, of Boston," with this odd sugges- 
tion : that " if any special use is to be made of the money, it be 
spent in furnishing comfortable and cushioned seats for the colored 
friends, in the best part of the church." Whether this hint was 
given out of pure love for the "colored friends," or rather as a 
sarcasm on the general usage of church trustees in the enlightened 
city of Boston, we know not. 

To the Eye and Ear Infirmary, of Brooklyn, Mr. Seney has do- 
nated the sum of $25,000, and to the Industrial School for Home- 
less Children, in the same city, an equal sum. 

The Long Island Historical Society has received a large share 
of Mr. Seney' s personal interest, as well as money gifts, and books 
of almost priceless value. At various times sums have been given, 
which amount to over $100,000. Some of this has been for gen- 
eral purposes, and other sums for special objects, such as rebind- 
ing valuable works, etc. He has recently added two gifts of 
peculiar interest to litterateurs and historical students. One of 
these is the great French work of Baron Taylor, on the "Archi- 



43^ GEORGE I. SENEY. 

tecture and Antiquities of France," in twenty-seven imperial folio 
volumes, exceedingly rare, and containing a large number (nearly 
2,000) of excellent lithographic plates. Accompanying this was a 
collection of famous etchings and engravings, in forty-seven folio 
volumes ; they are known as the " Cabinet du Roi," having for- 
merly belonged to Louis Phillippe. These are great rarities, and 
highly valued by the society. 

In the spring of 1882 Mr. Seney offered to give to the Brook- 
lyn Library the sum of $60,000, on condition that the trustees 
should raise $100,000 by the 1st of June. This occurring at a 
time of the year when many of the wealthiest people were away, it 
was impossible in that limited time to raise the whole amount; 
$75,000 was contributed by different gentlemen, but as the sum 
fell short of that indicated by Mr. Seney, his offer lapsed, and the 
library has not received any new offer from him. 

Perhaps what Mr. Seney would consider his crowning work is 
the founding of the " Methodist General Hospital," in the city of 
his residence, Brooklyn. At the laying of the corner-stone, in 
September, 1882, the Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley stated that this was 
the " first hospital in the history of the Methodist church." 

When the Seney Hospital is completed, it will not be surpassed 
by any other structure of the kind in the country, except, perhaps, 
the Johns Hopkins Hospital, of Baltimore. The former will cost a 
million dollars, the latter about two millions ; the former will have 
nine separate and distinct buildings, the latter will have twenty. 

The administration building will front on Sixth street, and will 
be 155 feet 6 inches in length, and 92 feet in depth, exclusive of 
the tower, which will project 19 feet. The height to the top of the 
cornices will be 61 feet 8 inches, and the height to the top of the 
tower 126 feet. The building will be of brick, and faced on all 
sides with Trenton pressed bricks, laid with black joints, and 
trimmed with New Jersey freestone. It will be fireproof, the floor- 
beams, partitions, and stairs being of iron, and the roofs of iron, 
asbestos, and slate. No wood will be used on the exterior, all 



GEORGE I. SENEY. 439 

cornices and dormer windows being of stone. The windows and 
porches will be ornamented with handsomely carved capitals in 
different designs, those for the mullion windows being supported 
by Wyoming Valley bluestone shafts. The basement story will 
be ten feet high, and will contain the servants' parlor and sewing- 
room, examination and waiting-rooms, and toilet and store-rooms. 
There will be an elevator from this story to the third. The first 
story will be eighteen feet high, and will contain the trustees' and 
general reception-rooms, and the officers' and nurses' dining- 
rooms, superintendent's and clerks* offices, toilet-room, and the 
chapel. This will be octagonal in plan, with a ceiling twenty-two 
feet high, and will seat 1 60 persons. It will not be for the ex- 
clusive use of the patients, but it is to be so arranged that the 
public can attend the services without entering the hospital 
proper. The principal entrance to the building is through a ves- 
tibule 1 7 feet 6 inches wide, the walls of which will be faced with 
enamelled bricks in fancy designs. 

It is proposed to make this a model hospital in every respect — 
the most progressive ideas in regard to ventilation, and the isola- 
tion of the separate wards, the operating amphitheatre, and all 
other departments, are to be adjusted with such strict attention to 
the latest ascertained facts of science, that the upholders of the 
" germ theory " will here, if anywhere, find their sine qua non in 
hospital treatment. What it will cost is yet unknown ; probably 
not less than $1, 000,000 — which brings the total amount of his 
benefactions to the munificent sum of $1,676,000. 

Mr. Seney has endowed an institution at Macon, and another at 
Oxford, Georgia. His benefactions have been various and muni- 
ficent; that a member of his family, a young daughter, jocularly 
remarked that she wished she was a public institution. 

Brooklyn is proud of this large-hearted citizen, who has done 
so much to add to its fame, and who is still young enough to mul- 
tiply his good deeds, and make glad the hearts of his fellow- 
beings. 



MARSHALL JEWELL. 

Marshall Jewell, ex-Governor of Connecticut, ex-Minister to 
Russia, ex-Postmaster-General, and Chairman in i83o of the Re- 
publican National Committee, was a native of Winchester, New 
Hampshire, and was born on the 24th of October, 1825. The 
family stock from which Mr. Jewell sprang were settled in Boston 
as early as 1639, where his American ancestor was Mr. Thomas 
Jewell, whose son Joseph was extensively known in those early 
times as a resident of Charlestown, and the owner of the ferry 
between that place and Boston. About 1690 the latter removed 
to Stow, Vermont, and the family of Jewells finally scattered to 
various parts of the country, some remaining in New England, 
some diverging to New York, and others seeking their fortunes 
farther west. Mr. Pliny Jewell, the father of Marshall, was in 
business as a tanner for many years in New Hampshire ; tanning 
had been the hereditary business of the Jewells for five generations 
— so, if Shakespeare's assertion on the incorruptibility of tanners 
hath any ground in science, the Jewell family are among the best 
preserved of mortals. 

Young Marshall received as much education as village boys 
generally gather from a few seasons' attendance at the common 
school, and a term or two at the academy ; but he had in his youth 
an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and to such, ways are opened 
which others never find to supplement school deficiencies. Very 
early he was taken into the tan-yard, working at the business until 
he was eighteen, and securing a thorough acquaintance with all 
the processes then known in the trade, little thinking that this 
sort of information would be turned to good account in a foreign 
land in the public service of his country at a later day. When 
(440) 



MARSHALL JEWELL. 44 1 

Marshall was about twenty years of age his father removed to 
Hartford, Connecticut, but the lad had already abandoned the 
idea of following that trade as his life business, and he struck out 
in an entirely new direction. His mind naturally turned to sub- 
jects of a scientific nature, and among the first who studied tele- 
graphy with the idea of making it his permanent -profession was 
young Jewell. The first situation which he obtained as a telegraph 
operator was in Rochester, New York ; subsequently he was put 
in charge of an office at Akron, Ohio ; then we find him at Col- 
umbia, Tennessee, and from thence he went to Jackson, Missis- 
sippi. All these changes of position were made before he was 
twenty-three. In 1848 he superintended the construction of tele- 
graph lines between New Orleans and Louisville, Kentucky. The 
next year he received the appointment of General Superintendent 
of the New York and Boston Telegraph Line. 

While, however, young Marshall had thus been rising by suc- 
cessive steps from the desk of the operator to the head of an im- 
portant line, his father's business had so greatly prospered that he 
needed the help of all his sons, and Marshall was persuaded to 
abandon telegraphy and return to the leather business — but in a 
different branch, and in a far different position from that which he 
had left. This new enterprise was the manufacture of leather 
belting, into which he entered as a partner, the firm being P. Jewell 
& Son. The period was propitious and the business immensely 
profitable; about $ 100,000 was said to have been made, clear of 
all expenses, the first year. Afterwards Marshall's brothers were 
taken into the concern, and the firm of P. Jewell & Sons became 
one of the largest manufacturing interests in the State, and sent 
its goods all over the country as well as to Europe ; Marshall 
travelled extensively in France, Belgium, Austria and Germany 
between the years 1852 and 1857; during this time the business 
was greatly extended, and the travelling partner thus had an op- 
portunity of becoming acquainted with nearly every country in 
Europe. After the death of his father (1869) he became the head 



44 2 MARSHALL JEWELL. 

of the firm, which eventually included all the Jewell brothers — 
Pliny, Lyman B. and Charles A. 

In 1865-67 Mr. Jewell again visited Europe in the interests of 
the firm, which had by this time become very extensive, yielding 
enormous profits. On this occasion his travels were not limited 
to the European continent ; he visited Egypt, making the ascent 
of the Nile, and then travelled through Palestine ; on his return 
taking in the Paris Exposition of 1867, attending the Convention 
of Leather Manufacturers, who met there to discuss the interests 
of the leather business in its various branches. 

Like every intelligent person, Marshall Jewell had always taken 
an interest in politics, but he was forty-three years of age, and a 
wealthy man, before he entered actively into those of his own 
State ; when he did, he made a splendid debut, running for 
governor on the Republican ticket, defeating that veteran politi- 
cian, James E. English. From this time forward, until within a 
short period of his death, the name of Marshall Jewell was rarely 
absent from any important State or National canvass. He was re- 
elected in 1 87 1 and in 1872 to fill the gubernatorial office. In 1873 
another honor awaited him. He was appointed by President Grant 
(also an ex-tanner) to represent the United States at St. Peters- 
burg. Undoubtedly Marshall Jewell was better fitted for this 
office than many aspirants for that position would have been ; his 
extensive travels in Europe had made him familiar with European 
modes of thought; and, if he did not understand the language of 
the Muscovites, he at least was safe from that exhibition of naivete 
which has distinguished some of our crude diplomats abroad. 
While he was in Russia, Mr. Jewell was enabled to perform .at 
least two very distinct services for the commerce of his own 
country. He had discovered, in the Russian markets (for much 
of the commerce of that country in all sorts of goods is conducted 
in open markets), that many kinds of inferior goods were fraudu- 
lently sold under the name of "American axes," "American sewing- 
machines," etc., thus putting discredit upon the real manufactures 
of the United States. 



MARSHALL JEWELL. 443 

Mr. Jewell appealed to the Imperial government, represented 
the injury that was thus done to our merchants and manufacturers, 
and finally succeeded in negotiating a specific treaty, securing to 
Americans perfect protection for their respective trade-marks. 

Mr. Jewell was a person of very accurate observation ; there 
was little to be seen which escaped his penetrating eye, and it 
may well be supposed that he was ever wide awake to everything 
affecting the leather interest. Every dealer knows what a fancy 
the aristocratic purchaser here and elsewhere has for that subtle 
perfume which pervades the true Russian leather. What caused 
this peculiar aroma ? Mr. Jewell determined to find out. The 
process of tanning in Russia to a transient observer was ap- 
parently the same as with us, but, by close observation, the 
American minister discerned that a small amount of birch-bark tar 
was used in the Russian tanneries. Procuring some materials to 
be experimented with, he soon solved the mystery of the peculiar 
scent. As he was still a member of the manufacturing firm in 
Hartford, a less generous man would have kept this secret for his 
own profit. Not so Marshall Jewell ; he immediately bought some 
of the tar and sent it home, with full explanations for its use, and 
soon every paper in the land was made aware that henceforth 
"Russian leather" could be as perfectly manufactured in the 
United States as in Moscow or Novgorod. Had he remained in 
St. Petersburg we should probably have had other benefits to 
record which his zeal would have won for his country, but in 1874 
President Grant nominated him for a cabinet position, as successor 
of A. J. Creswell, Postmaster-General. On receiving the news 
of this appointment, Mr. Jewell resigned his foreign mission and re- 
turned home. In this new department he displayed great energy, 
and set himself at once to remedy some of the corrupt practices 
which had crept into the post-office management ; just at this 
time some very notorious " straw bids " had been made for valua- 
ble contracts in the southwest, particularly from Texas and Ala- 
bama. He made every effort to suppress these frauds, and in 



444 MARSHALL JEWELL. 

great measure succeeded, but not without awakening the anger of 
the politicians interested ; and when his own interests were at 
stake under the next administration the senators from these States 
were found bitterly opposing him. 

It was Marshall Jewell who established the fast mail service be- 
tween New York and Chicago. On his return from Russia he 
had stopped at Berlin, Paris and London to examine the postal 
systems of those countries, being always ready to adopt any real 
improvements from any source whatever; and it is to him that the 
United States and Canada owe the common postal system which 
now exists between them. His reforms, of course, excited the in- 
tense ill-will of all the drones and schemers who infested the de- 
partment, and his declaration, that he intended to conduct it on 
business principles, created something like a panic. " Never 
before," he remarked, " was I at the head of an institution which 
did not pay its own expenses." During a speech which he made 
at the annual dinner of the New York Chamber of Commerce in 
May, 1875, he said : " I say for myself, as a merchant now tempo- 
rarily in politics, and on the strength of a merchant's word, I 
pledge to you that, in my feeble attempt I have made to administer 
the department of the government over which I preside, I have 
administered it as I would my private affairs ; I have administered 
it as a merchant always does his affairs — for the benefit of his 
owners, which, in this case, are the people." This spirit of recti- 
tude had, however, no influence on General Grant's successor. In 
March, 1876, Mr. Rutherford B. Hayes was inducted into the 
Presidential chair, and early in July Mr. Jewell's resignation was 
requested, and promptly rendered. 

On his return to Hartford, Mr. Jewell was welcomed home by a 
public ovation, which plainly expressed the sentiments of the peo- 
ple. Addresses were made by prominent citizens commending 
his course ; an enormous procession was organized to receive him, 
artillery was fired, and all such demonstrations as a free people 
know how to accord to a faithful public servant. After this period 



MARSHALL JEWELL. 445 

Mr. Jewell held no political office, though he consented to act as 
Chairman of the Republican Committee during the political cam- 
paign of 1879-80. Besides these political episodes, and his busi- 
ness as a member of the old firm in Hartford, Marshall Jewell 
was connected with many other business enterprises. For some 
years he was a special partner in the dry-goods house of Charles 
Root & Co., in Detroit, Michigan ; he was also President of the 
Jewell Pin Company ; and he was also interested in two telephone 
companies — the United States Telephone Association, and the 
Southern New England Telephone Company. He was a Direc- 
tor in the Phoenix Fire Insurance Company, of Hartford ; in the 
Hartford Bank, and in several other companies and associations. 

In politics few have risen to such influence and position who en- 
tered the field so late in life ; and considering that he really enjoyed 
its excitement, it is strange that he had not appeared earlier in the 
arena. Mr. Jewell was a man of abounding vitality, stout in fig- 
ure and of only medium height, but of very attractive appearance, 
one whom it might have been thought could have lived out his 
threescore years and ten, as a plain-looking man was heard to 
remark, as he stood looking at the dead governor's likeness in a 
store on Main street, Hartford, on the day of the funeral : " It 
seems a pity that a man like that shouldn't live longer." 

To his friends his life seemed far more important than to him- 
self; during his last illness he suddenly turned to his medical 
attendant and asked : " How long will it take, doctor ? " " How 
long will what take ? " inquired the doctor. " 1 mean," said the 
sick man, "how long does it take for a man to die?" "In your 
condition, Governor," was the answer, " it is a matter of only a few 
hours." "All right, doctor," said he, and settled back quietly to 
await the end. His death occurred on the ioth of February, 1883, 
and was caused by pneumonia. 

For many years he , had occupied a handsome residence on 
Farmington avenue, and " the governor's house " had been famous 
for its wide and sumptuous hospitality, even before Mr. Jewell's 



44-6 MARSHALL JEWELL. 

entrance into politics. When the Russian Grand Duke Alexis 
was in this country he visited Hartford as the guest of Mr. Jewell ; 
the latter pointing out to the Duke the site of his early work in 
tanning leather, Alexis exclaimed, " What ! is that the way Ameri- 
cans rise? from the tannery to the governor's chair?" 

In politics, as Chairman of the Republican National Committee, 
Mr. Jewell was most energetic and untiring, and to his efforts may 
be fairly ascribed a large portion of the success of his party in 
1880 ; nor did he scruple to use any of the means adopted by his 
confreres ; frankly admitting that he had been " distributing cash 
through the States." 

Much of Mr. Jewell's success, as well in business as in politics, 
was due to his temperament, as was well remarked by his friend 
and pastor, Dr. Parker: "Much is said of pluck, nerve, mettle, 
energy, hardihood, audacity, as the causative powers in such a 
career and character. Let us sum up all such qualities in physi- 
cal and mental force. It is inheritance. In vain you commend it 
to one who has no valiant ancestor. Marshall Jewell was ex- 
cellently created. The atmosphere of his cradle and childhood 
was pure and bracing. The virtues of his father were only varied 
in his constitution. Some men think to thrive by the failures of 
others, and aim at solitary successes ; not so with Marshall Jewell, 
he preferred companionship in success. It is much to say of a 
man that he has not an enemy in the world. It is far more and 
better to say of him that no man in the world had an enemy in 
him. He had no capacity for malice ; and even in the heat of 
politics meeting friends opposed to him as partisans, he would 
offer his hand and say, ' Whatever comes of this contest let you 
and I remain good friends.' " 

The precise amount of Mr. Jewell's fortune has not been 
divulged ; it was very large. 



"LUCKY" BALDWIN. 

Mr. E. J. Baldwin, who long ago obtained the sobriquet of 
"lucky," was no more favored of fortune than that he had the 
mental constitution and physical vigor which enabled him to work 
early and late, and brains to see and seize upon opportunities 
which many others overlooked, either from lack of intellectual 
capacity, or a deficiency in the nervous temperament. His wealth 
did not fall on him from the skies ; neither did his first pick and 
shovel strike a bonanza. What he has obtained he has worked 
for fully thirty years ; what he needed to know, and was deficient 
in, he learned, and never left a subject till he had mastered it in 
all its details. This was the kind of " luck " which helped him to 
his present possessions. Mr. Baldwin came to California from 
the enterprising State of Ohio, where he was born in 1828, in But- 
ler county, on a farm near the .Great Miami river, a short distance 
from the shire town of Hamilton. When a child of seven years, 
the family removed to Indiana, some seventy miles east of 
Chicago, on land adjoining that of the Hon. Schuyler Colfax's 
family. Here young Baldwin received the elements of a common 
country school education, and was then set to work on his father's 
farm. He grew up strong and healthy, though not particularly 
robust-looking ; and what he lacked of book education he made 
up to some extent by observation, and listening to the politicians 
of Hamilton, whenever he could get an opportunity to go " to the 
town." His knowledge of farming was not a useless acquisition 
either to the future millionaire, for much of it was afterwards 
applied in extensive ranches in Southern California. He married 
soon after arriving at his majority, and set up for himself in the 
town of Valparaiso, about forty miles west of his late home. 

(447) 



44-8 " LUCKY " BALDWIN. 

There he opened a country store ; but being beyond the reach of 
any railroad, he felt the great need of some more speedy means 
of communication with the South and West. He observed that an 
immense amount of produce might be sold or exchanged to advan- 
tage, which was practically wasted for want of a market to dispose 
of the surplus. As he could not build a railroad to facilitate traffic 
for want of funds, he did what he could, and constructed three 
canal-boats, which were the first boats put upon the " Illinois 
Canal" — between Chicago and St. Louis in 1848-50. But with 
the restless fever in his veins which seems to possess so many 
Western people, he soon pushed beyond Chicago, and settled, or 
rather stopped for a while, at Racine, Wisconsin ; here he engaged 
in the grocery business, and continued it with good success for 
two years ; then he concluded to try California. He travelled 
overland, taking with him a number of horses and wagons, a large 
supply of merchandise, and a number of passengers, so that his 
time was by no means lost while on the way — and his personal 
expenses might be put at a minimum. He sold most of his goods 
on the journey, principally at Salt Lake City, so that west of that 
point he had no further encumbrance, and had cleared on his sales 
between three and four thousand dollars. Before reaching the 
Sierras, he sold out his horses and wagons, and started over the 
mountains with pack mules; halting for rest a few weeks at Placer- 
ville, he then went on to San Francisco. After arriving there, he 
fatted up his mules, and sold them at a good profit, " standing in " 
several thousand dollars ahead of what he had when he com- 
menced his journey ; in making which, while crossing Nevada, he 
went up Gold Canon almost directly over the ground in which 
he eventually made his great fortune; he, however, laid its founda- 
tions in the purchase of the Pacific Temperance House, then a 
thriving hotel on Pacific street. He ran this house very success- 
fully as long as he kept it, but when an opportunity to sell out to 
advantage occurred, he quickly closed the bargain, and with his 
increased capital, opened another hotel in Jackson street, calling 



" LUCKY BALDWIN. 449 

it the Clinton House. He conducted this for about six months in 
1854, when he once more sold out at a profit, and with the pro- 
ceeds commenced a new business. 

This new enterprise was the manufacture and sale of bricks. 
At first he entered into partnership with one of his passengers 
who had crossed the plains with him. Mr. Baldwin looked up 
business and took contracts while the partner oversaw the manu- 
facturing department. When he commenced, Mr. Baldwin had 
no knowledge whatever of the brick-making, but having got some 
insight into it by close observation of the workmen, and having 
also secured a treatise upon the subject which he faithfully studied, 
he soon felt himself competent to conduct the business alone. 
Having dissolved the partnership, he made arrangements to 
greatly extend the business. He procured the contract from 
government offices in San Francisco to supply all the brick to be 
used in the construction of the Fort Point fortifications, on very 
remunerative terms : and to save freightage he removed his works 
to the vicinity of Fort Point, where he also made all the bricks 
required by the government in its stately citadel on the island of 
Alcatraz ; these contracts occupied him for two years, during 
which time he of course employed a large force of laborers ; he 
erected cheap boarding houses, and boarded the workmen — in- 
deed there seemed no way in which money could be made that he 
did not seize upon it ; this profit upon these boarders amounted 
to from twelve to fifteen hundred dollars per month. His mania 
for change now took possession of him again : he had made all 
the bricks he wanted to make. His next move was something 
entirely different. In 1855 there was a large sale of real estate, 
known as the " Folsom Sale," at which he bought largely, includ- 
ing a lot on Commercial street on which a livery stable was 
located ; he bought out this business, which he carried on for an 
unprecedented length of time — seven years, adding all the time to 
his real estate, in which most of his funds were at this time 
invested. But tiring of this at last he suddenly sold out the 
29 



45° " LUCKY BALDWIN. 

livery business, and started for Virginia City ; not with the inten-' 
tion of mining, but to go into lumbering; taking with him a num- 
ber of teams and a large quantity of lumber, he established a yard 
there which, like all of his projects hitherto, proved a hit. The 
miners needed immense quantities of lumber to build their shafts, 
and to buttress up their tunnels, and all that was used in Virginia 
City had to be brought from a considerable distance and at great 
expense. After a time, indeed, immense shoots were built from 
the summit of the timbered hills — one, some three miles in length — 
but at the time Mr. Baldwin took his lumber there, no such device 
was in operation, and he could consequently demand almost any 
price for his stock of wood. In this expedition he naturally became 
interested in the mines ; though he never seems to have had any 
inclination for practical work in them, but he returned from this 
enterprise to San Francisco to commence his speculations in 
mining stocks; here his fortune fluctuated considerably; stocks 
were something not quite so tangible and easily understood as 
bricks and horses ; like others who ventured on the Stock Ex- 
change he had his ups and downs, and at one period he had to 
mortgage nearly all of his real estate to keep afloat. But he per- 
severed and his reward came in the rich returns from Crown 
Point, Belcher, Consolidated Virginia, California and Ophir, in all 
of which he speculated on a grand scale. He had used his op- 
portunity when in Virginia City to examine into the merits of 
these mines, and was convinced of their value ; it is said that he 
tried successively to induce Mackay, Fair and J. P. Jones to unite 
with him in bringing out the Belcher, but they had other plans in 
hand, and he did not succeed in interesting them to that extent. 
Ever since that he has worked by and for himself, having no 
partners and joining no companies. 

About 1874 he, by a series of very shrewd movements, secured 
the control of over one-half of the shares of the rich Ophir mine ; 
this required the purchase of fifty-five thousand shares. He 
cleared a neat $5,000,000 out of this venture, and might have 



BALDWIN. 45 1 

made much more had he chosen to manipulate the stock as some 
speculators are always ready to do, regardless of the ruin they 
bring upon others ; but Mr. Baldwin has never exercised his great 
financial influence in creating " corners " or panics. Some five 
years ago he obtained a similar controlling interest in the "Justice 
mine." But, while thus adding to his fortune, he was not idle in 
other directions. In the spring of 1875 he commenced those 
double buildings — namely, the hotel and theatre, or academy of 
music, known as " Baldwin's " — in San Francisco, and, although 
five hundred workmen were employed, this grand structure took 
two years to complete. It is located on the corner of Market and 
Powell streets ; on the latter it is two hundred and seventy-five 
feet front by two hundred and ten feet on Market street. The 
principal facade is decorated in the style of the French renaissance, 
with a mansard roof, Corinthian columns and ornate cornices. The 
summit is relieved by several towers, the central one reaching to a 
height of one hundred and sixty-two feet. It is as nearly fire- 
proof as a building can be made ; it is furnished and equipped, 
both the theatre and hotel, in the most complete manner ; no detail 
which could add to the comfort of guests or visitors appears to 
have been overlooked. The total cost was nearly $3,000,000. 

In all of Mr. Baldwin's building and other .enterprises he has 
kept in view the interests of the community with which he was 
identified, always patronizing native producers and manufacturers, 
as far as was practicable. The lumber for his great building was 
of home growth ; the furniture and mirrors were mostly from 
the Eastern States ; some stone and woods were brought from 
Mexico and the Sandwich Islands, but were made up by workmen 
in San Francisco ; the West Coast Furniture Company doing most 
of the work. Subsequently Mr. Baldwin purchased a large plot of 
ground for the purpose of building a public market. The aesthetic 
plan which the proprietor devised for this great public improve- 
ment deserves all praise. Most markets are very disagreeable 
places to visit, and the purchaser is forced to traverse the rounds 



452 "LUCKY BALDWIN. 

of the several departments, and is usually very glad to escape — 
even with the loss of his solid cash ; but Mr. Baldwin's idea was 
to make this model market attractive. The ground formerly 
known as the McCrellish property, with a frontage on Market 
street measuring one hundred and seventy-five feet by two hun- 
dred and seventy-five in depth, was that selected. The plan in- 
cludes drive-ways, so that ladies can leave their orders without 
descending from their carriages ; shrubs, flowers, fountains, and 
on Saturday evenings music, will, when completed, charm and 
detain customers, who will have no desire to get away from the 
precinct. If this is carried out in the spirit of the proprietor it 
will prove one of the permanent attractions of the city. But it is 
not San Francisco alone which has been benefited by the improv- 
ing hand of E. J. Baldwin ; other parts of the State have shared 
in the stimulus created by the diffusion of his money and the 
broad views he has made practical in stock-raising and other 
pursuits. 

About 1875 Mr. Baldwin visited Los Angelos county, rightly 
named the land of the angels ; for such is the loveliness of the 
climate, and the beautiful nature of its flora, that celestial visitants 
might well be entertained there ; in this " Garden of California " 
Mr. Baldwin bought some 60,000 acres of the choicest land, some 
of which is divided off and occupied as farms ; a portion is devoted 
to corn — some 13,000 acres, while what is called "the home- 
track/' the old Santa Anita Ranch, about 16,000 acres, is mainly 
devoted to stock-horses, mules and sheep of the finest breeds — 
the former including the last of the Lexingtons, and the latter 
both merino sheep and Southdowns, in all 20,000 sheep; some of 
the rams bought of Lord Walsingham cost $800 apiece. The 
milch kine include Jerseys, Alderneys, Guernseys, Short Horns 
and Durhams; some of the latter are raised for the market, but 
all are thoroughbred. It takes about two hundred laborers to 
look after this ranch and the stock. Part of the land is naturally 
irrigated, and part artificially ; there are six miles of conducting 



"LUCKY" BALDWIN. 453 

pipe and several artesian wells on the place, which aid in filling a 
number of artificial lakes. There are thirty dwelling-houses and 
other buildings, many of them artistic in form, adding a human in- 
terest to the natural beauties of the scene ; rustic arbors, bridges, 
and, better than all, a school for the benefit of the children of the 
laboring cottagers, meet the eye ; there is also a store upon the 
place, with a well-selected stock of goods, which is frequently re- 
newed, and which enables the workmen and their families to sup- 
ply their wants, without loss of time or expense of travelling to 
the county town. But the half of the beauties of Anita Ranch re- 
main to be told. The large and beautiful collection of trees of 
various kinds, useful and ornamental, is simply enchanting; and 
the floral nurseries are like fairy groves, so lithe and delicate are 
many of these trees in the first months of their growth. There 
are over 1,200 acres devoted to fruit and arbor-culture, and among 
the great variety of fruit trees, 18,000 are oranges, lemons and 
limes; there are 2,000 almond trees; 500 Italian chestnut trees; 
eighty acres are set out with the English walnut ; peach, plum and 
apple trees in plenty, though less numerous ; 3,000 pepper trees 
add an oriental feature to the scene ; while 60,000 eucalyptus trees, 
embracing nearly thirty varieties, add their health-giving qualities 
to the air ; one of the pleasing and useful features of the orchard 
is a broad drive-way or avenue three miles in length by one hun- 
dred and twenty in width, bordered by these healthful and stately 
foreign trees, down the centre of which is a thrifty growth of the 
smaller pepper trees ; ^ig trees, both white and black, thrive on 
this estate. Nearly every quarter of the world has furnished its 
specimen trees to adorn these grounds. Three hundred acres of 
vineyard show a wonderful variety of American and foreign grapes ; 
seventy acres being devoted to the latter. The nurseries are pro- 
portionately extensive as is the orchard ; at one time might be 
seen 60,000 budded orange trees; while the young eucalyptus 
trees are set out in groves, covering several acres ; evergreens are 
not overlooked ; and this wonderful climate assimilates them all. 



454 " LUCKY BALDWIN. 

Indeed this ranch is one of the most astonishing displays of the 
immense variety of fruits and foliage which will not only grow, 
but grows to the utmost perfection in Los Angelos county. This 
land is generally level, with the exception of some slight eleva- 
tions, but about the centre of this modern Eden is a rise of land, 
about seventy-five feet in height, which is to be the site for the 
grand mansion of the future ; when this English-Gothic stone struc- 
ture is completed it will overlook the entire estate, so far as the 
eye can see. Over half a million dollars has been expended on 
Santa Anita. Art and nature have combined to make it one of the 
loveliest spots on the Pacific coast, and, in some respects, there 
are few anywhere which surpass it. The material prosperity of 
Mr. Baldwin has certainly been more uniformly progressive than 
many others now exceeding him in wealth, but good judgment 
and indomitable energy have been his prominent characteristics; 
his opportunities were self-sought; and though he made many 
changes, enough in his early life to have been labeled in old-time 
phraseology as a " rolling stone," of which no good was ever 
prophesied, yet it will be noted that he never relaxed his hold of 
a paying concern until a more profitable was within his grasp. 

Mr. Baldwin has hitherto shown no disposition to leave the ex- 
treme West in favor of either New York or Paris, as so many of 
his peers in the race for wealth in California have done. While 
in San Francisco he occupies at times a suite of rooms in his own 
hotel — "The Baldwin." He has been twice married, but is now a 
widower. His daughter has also been twice married, her last hus- 
band being the noted horse-trainer, Budd Doble. Mr. Baldwin's 
social life has been almost as adventurous as his business enter- 
prises. Soon after the completion of his magnificent hotel he was 
sued by one of his employes for breach of promise of marriage, 
putting the damages at $40,000. Early in the last year (Jan- 
uary 5th, 1883) Mr. Baldwin was shot and wounded in the arm by 
Miss Verona Baldwin, his cousin ; the assault occurred in the cor- 
ridor of his hotel. The young lady was arrested and incarcerated 



BALDWIN. 455 

on a charge of "intent to kill;" when the trial took place the jury 
was so far convinced of the truth of her story of alleged injustice 
and injury that she was unanimously acquitted by a verdict of 
" Not guilty," which verdict the local papers united in indorsing. 
It is evident that business capacity does not always include clear- 
ness of moral vision ; did it, Mr. Baldwin's $20,000,000 would 
surely have enabled him to navigate with fewer shocks through 
the perilous eddies, rocks and shoals of social life in California. 
If Mr. Baldwin cannot be held up in all respects as a model man, 
let his young countrymen at least endeavor to emulate his 
energy, perseverance and regard for the material prosperity of 
the community. 



SAMUEL J. TILDEN. 

Samuel J. Tilden was born in Lebanon, Columbia county, New 
York, in 1813; he received a fair elementary education, was en- 
tered at Yale College, and later, studied at the University of New 
York, and then commenced the study of law, in the practice of 
which he soon made his mark. During his early manhood polit- 
ical parties were divided into Whig and Democrat, and when Mr. 
Tilden was about thirty-five the great struggle commenced, which 
finally divided the latter into the conservative — or what has since 
been called "the old Bourbon element," and the more progressive 
party, headed by Martin Van Buren. Mr. Tilden was a firm friend 
of the latter, and from the natural affiliations growing out of that 
connection, became broader and more national in his spirit than 
some of his earlier confreres. 

Mr. Tilden was always a man who could learn by events, and 
when the great collision came in 1861, he had no hesitation as to 
his duty in the premises; he squarely planted himself on the side 
of the Union, while some of his friends stopped to talk about State 
rights — as might safely be done in time of peace, but not in the 
face of civil war ; he recognized the fact, that all speculative 
theories must give way to the " supreme right of national pres- 
ervation." But it was in the matter of municipal reform that Mr. 
Tilden won the general admiration of all parties ; to his efforts, 
more than to any other person, is due the final breaking up and 
dissolution of the notorious " Tweed ring " in New York, while his 
record as governor very justly won him the nomination to the 
Presidency in 1876, which was responded to by a handsome ma- 
jority in the popular vote. How the will of the people was 
thwarted and brought to naught, it is not our purpose to describe 
(456) 




SAMUEL J. TILDEN. 



SAMUEL J. TILDEN. 457 

here. History has recorded, and will preserve the story. We 
shall only remark that, in the estimation of all honest men, Mr. 
Tilden bore himself through that trying crisis with a cool, self- 
contained wisdom, which must win for him on the page of the his- 
torian, the highest possible commendation, as a patriot and a 
respecter of law and order, to which principle he was ready to 
sacrifice, and did sacrifice, everything but the esteem of his fellow- 
citizens. 

Since that eventful year of 1876, Mr. Tilden has quietly occu- 
pied himself with business affairs, and with the improvement of his 
villa-farm at Greystone, on the Hudson, and his splendid residence 
in Gramercy Park, New York city. For a long time Mr. Tilden's 
office was in Wall street, and this was shared by his friend, Mr. 
Charles F. McLean, who is jocosely charged with habitually per- 
sonating Mr. Tilden to unsuspecting strangers and interviewers, 
when the Democratic chief did not choose to be seen. But latterly 
Mr. Tilden has occupied an office on the third floor at 1 20 Nassau 
street, which adjoins the sub-treasury building; and on the door 
of his suite of rooms maybe read the following information: "New 
York Iron Mine — Samuel J. Tilden — George W. Smith/' To this 
office "the chief" comes three times a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays, 
and Saturdays ; he generally appears about midday, and remains 
only a short time. His clerks always speak of him as " the gov- 
ernor," and defend him zealously from the prying eyes of all news- 
paper men. Besides this place, he has also an office in the same 
building with the Third National Bank, where he deposits. He 
often comes down into Wall street in a close carriage, and sum- 
moning his broker to get in and take a seat beside him, he thus 
gets the latest news of the street, discusses the condition of stocks, 
gives his orders, and thus, while his coachman has been slowly 
driving round a few blocks, the business of the day is transacted, 
the broker is re-deposited, and "the governor" goes home or 
drives elsewhere. 

In summer Mr. Tilden resides at Greystone, about twelve miles 



458 SAMUEL J. TILDEN. 

from the city, near the town of Yonkers, on the North driver ; 
hence the sobriquet of " the Sage of Greystone." Here we find 
the late president-elect in the guise of a farmer, and his farm is as 
thoroughly well managed as his finances, and that is saying a great 
deal in its praise ; here he keeps blooded stock, cattle, poultry and 
thorough-bred dogs ; everything is the best of its kind, particularly 
horses, in which he takes great pleasure. The ground itself of 
which the farm is composed has a very undulating surface, with 
hills and dales which make a tour of the place somewhat fatiguing 
to city visitors ; and it is more than suspected that when certain 
politicians have come to Greystone to spy out the condition of 
the ex-governor's health he has taken a somewhat malicious 
pleasure in leading them a wearisome tramp about the farm ; 
easily tiring them out, and so leaving them to draw their in- 
ferences. As Mr. Tilden has never married his house is presided 
over by a sister. Greystone is sufficiently near the city to be 
accessible to those whom its owner desires to see, while it is just 
far enough away to keep the ordinary idle caller from becoming 
too much of a bore. 

The historical house in Gramercy Park, which Mr. Tilden 
has occupied for many years (No. 15), has lately undergone great 
expansion and improvement. The house next to it, formerly oc- 
cupied by his friend, Mr. McLean, has been added to it, and the 
whole facade of both houses so remodeled as to present the ap- 
pearance of one very large mansion. There are many beautiful 
and expensive buildings in New York, but not one more artistically 
harmonious than this. " Gramercy Park '■' is simply a single 
block or square of ground reserved on Lexington avenue between 
Twentieth and Twenty-first streets. It is planted and kept in good 
condition, and answers the purpose of an airing place for nurslings 
and small children, but has otherwise no park-like features, being 
too small to scarcely deserve the name ; still it is pleasanter to 
look across this square of green sward and shrubbery than to feel 
a pile of brick or brown stone reflecting the heat or blocking the 



SAMUEL J. TILDEN. 459 

view at a distance of only a narrow street between. It is on 
Twentieth street that Mr. Tilden's house stands, facing on the 
southern side of " Gramercy Park." That the busy politician 
and successful financier should have been capable of conceiving 
such an approximation to absolute perfection, in the transforma- 
tion of two plain houses into such an aesthetic whole, speaks 
volumes for the general and versatile culture of the owner. The 
appearance is extremely imposing ; it is fifty feet front, and in depth 
extends nearly to Nineteenth street. There are two entrances, 
and between these are very wide and handsomely designed bay- 
windows which are carried up to the fourth story. The general 
character of the architecture is Gothic, but this is very freely treated ; 
there is much ornamentation, but all in exquisite taste. It is not 
easy to contrive novelties in the treatment of facades, but this has 
been done here in a very pleasing manner in one way by the 
management of the cornice line, which has been divided into pedi- 
ments — " breaking," as the architects say, " the sky-line," which in 
a house fifty feet front, if carried out in the common fashion, is apt 
to give a heavy and oppressive look to the structure. On the 
northeast corner it was desired to place a flag-staff, and this has 
been treated in a very happy manner to aid the general effect. A 
substantial square metal base supports a pediment which holds the 
flag-staff, and this is made to assist the eye in following the dom- 
inating apex, secured by treating the main chimney in an orna- 
mental manner, giving to the summit a sort of pyramidal form by 
a culminating point, as " drawing up the sky-line to an apex." The 
verbal or written description of this architectural effect by no 
means conveys an adequate idea of the sense of beautiful propor- 
tion which is thus bestowed on the whole structure; the tout en- 
semble is remarkably fine and entirely unlike any other house in 
the city. 

One feature which attracts the attention of every passer-by on 
Twentieth street are five beautifully carved heads, in high relief, 
set medallion fashion between the bay-windows on the first floor : 



46O SAMUEL J. TILDEN. 

these are Shakespeare, Milton, Franklin, Goethe, Dante ; around 
the old entrance is some very fine ornamental carving, and the 
four seasons are symbolically represented by the heads of those 
mythological deities which preside over them. Over the new 
entrance is the head of Michael Angelo. Another unusual point 
is the very handsome and substantial treatment of the front area, 
which is enclosed in an open balustrade of real bronze, of which 
material are also the guards of the basement windows, the gates 
being solid of the same rich metal ; the railings of the stoops are 
a combination of bronze and ebony ; massiveness, without being 
heavy, and costly, without a shadow of vulgar display, is the effect 
of these unique embellishments, but a fraction of which we have 
endeavored to describe ; " magnificent " is not too large a word to 
employ as the sum total of the effect. 

The interior of the house is equally rich, and designed for use 
and comfort ; the new portion of the building, on the lower floor, 
is occupied as a library. As is well known, Mr. Tilden has long 
possessed one of the most valuable libraries in the country, pos- 
sibly the very best ; to this he has lately added new works to the 
value of $15,000; this collection is particularly rich in works on 
art. Although Mr. Tilden's house is overflowing with books in 
every part of it, yet the library proper is worthy of special men- 
tion ; it consists of three very large rooms thrown into one by 
means of folding doors ; the floor is of inlaid woods of various 
colors and forms. The ceiling is ribbed with richly carved oak 
crossing over a surface of blue tiles ; the book-cases are of carved 
maple and satin wood ; these do not project into the room in the 
ungainly fashion of most libraries, but are so built into the wall as 
to form part of it, which gives an aspect of airiness and space un- 
usual in libraries, public or private. Notwithstanding the immense 
number of books collected in the Gramercy Park mansion Mr. 
Tilden has almost as large a number at Greystone. This won- 
derful city residence is finished throughout in the same good taste 
as the exterior and the library. The dining-room is a marvel of 



SAMUEL J. TILDEN. 46 1 

comfort and elegance. An elevator conveys the family or visitors 
to the upper floors. The cost of this building was $500,000. It 
was three years in course of construction ; is fire-proof; has brick 
floors, iron beams and girders; the roof is iron, tiled over. There 
is no paper in the house, all the walls being finished in fresco, oil, 
hard wood, terra-cotta — anything but paper. Stained glass is a 
feature which gives tone and brilliancy to all the lower part. 

It has been currently reported that Mr. Tilden, in remodeling 
this house in the magnificent style described, has had the ultimate 
intention of bequeathing it to the city of New York for a library, 
but up to the present time there is no official evidence of this in- 
tent. There is naturally much interest taken in all that relates to 
the great Democratic statesman, who stands in such a unique posi- 
tion before the nation, as that of a man elected to the highest 
office without filling it. All his movements are chronicled elabo- 
rately, if not always truthfully, and the subject of his health is a 
never-ceasing topic with politicians, who are ever on the alert, and 
imagine that he must always be contemplating running for some 
office, but so contradictory are these reports that they mutually 
nullify each other. The simple fact is, that Mr. Tilden is neither 
decrepit with age nor in the fresh buoyancy of youth ; he is a 
very well-preserved man of seventy years of age, and that should 
make an end of all exaggerated stories. His mind is clear ; in 
business matters he is as keen as ever. He has always used his 
mental faculties, and they have been strengthened by use, but not 
overstrained. For many years, when practising at the bar, he was 
known as a " railroad lawyer," which practice gave him a fine in- 
sight into the condition of stocks here and there, from which 
information he was not slow to profit. He owns a great deal of 
real estate. As Governor of New York, he became thoroughly 
conversant with all the different interests of the city and country 
districts, the canals and the seaboard ; finance on a large scale was 
no mystery to his keen intellect, and, with all his business ac- 
tivity, he has for many years allowed himself sufficient recreation 



462 SAMUEL J. TILDEN. 

ai>d repose, or, if not exactly repose, sufficient change of occupa- 
tion to keep body and mind in a condition of healthy equilibrium. 
His reading has not been limited to law books or to railroad 
reports; art and general literature have come in for a share of at- 
tention. When in New York he took his daily drives in Central 
Park or on the Boulevard, not infrequently driving a span of 
horses to Greystone ; and then this farm-place was like an assured 
bill of health to its owner ; here was a perfect change from the 
sights and sounds of Wall street, and deliverance from the crowd 
of second-class politicians who are always hanging to the garments 
of a natural leader of men. 

He has even relieved himself of much detail and routine busi- 
ness by placing a part of his financial affairs into the hands of his 
old friend, Andrew H. Green ; but if anybody imagines that "the 
Governor " has dropped the reins, he would be very much mis- 
taken. Mr. Tilden's estate is not reckoned at less than $10,000,- 
000. As he is unmarried, and his nearest relatives are all well off, 
speculation is already rife as to what will be the destination of his 
large fortune. 



PAUL TULANE. 

Among the generous millionaires who propose to benefit the 
youth of the country, and at the same time erect their own me- 
morial for future remembrance during their lifetime, is Mr. Paul 
Tulane, late of New Orleans, but a native and present resident of 
New Jersey. Paul was born in Princeton, near the close of the 
last century. The family, as the name indicates, was originally 
French ; they lived on a farm called Rocky Hill, and though from 
this site Princeton College even then held out its beckoning hands 
to the youth of the vicinity, young Paul was not of the fortu- 
nate number to enter those classic precincts. What education he 
had in his youth was received in the ordinary schools of the place, 
and his career, as well as that of thousands of others, proves at 
least that a collegiate education is not a necessary adjunct to the 
acquisition of a fortune. 

Neither in his youth was a New Jersey farm, and that a stony 
one, the place in which to accumulate riches. So, with the ambi- 
tion natural to his age, he early in life started out to seek a wider 
sphere for his enterprise. Perhaps it was the traditions of the 
family, ever linked with the old love for la belle France, which led 
him to select the city of New Orleans for his first essay ; there at 
least he would find a numerous population with which any one of 
French stock could readily fraternize. Establishing himself as a 
merchant- tailor, he grew up with the city, and, by his fair dealing 
and ready tact in business, soon drew to himself the lion's share of 
business in his line. He prospered almost beyond precedent, and, 
when the surplus funds increased beyond the uses of trade, he 
began to invest in real estate. New Orleans has seen many 
fluctuations in values, but in the long run those clear-headed men 

(463) 



464 PAUL TULANE. 

who foresaw the direction of the future growth of the city forty 
years ago could hardly fail to make large profits from the rise in 
real estate. 

For many years Mr. Tulane, while still a merchant in the Cres- 
cent City, had spent the summer months in his native Princeton ; 
and when, in 1857, he retired from active business, he bought 
what was known as the " old Stockton Place," in which to enjoy 
the otium cum dignitate which his forty years of business activity 
had fairly earned. The " Stockton Place " had a history, which 
links it with the names both of Commodore Stockton and of the 
late Attorney-General Stockton, who was American Minister to 
Rome under President Buchanan ; but its best recommendation to 
Mr. Tulane was its proximity to the home of his old friend, the 
late Charles S. Olden, the "War Governor" of New Jersey. The 
"Stockton Place" is situated on the left of the College buildings, 
and nearly half a mile distant. The house, which is of stone, a 
solid square structure, stands in the centre of a space occupying 
an entire city block ; shade trees and well-kept lawns, with broad 
verandas, give to the place a cool, refreshing, comfortable aspect ; 
and here, enjoying the shelter from the sun and the pleasant sum- 
mer breeze, the owner may frequently be seen sitting outside, his 
venerable aspect naturally attracting the attention of passers-by. 
Sometimes surrounded by young relatives ; for though never mar- 
ried, Mr. Tulane keeps no solitary state, but surrounds himself 
with friends, who share this pleasant retreat with him. 

Though relieved from the routine of business, Mr. Tulane has 
never considered himself relieved from fulfilling the duties of good 
citizenship. 

During the war Mr. Tulane found it necessary to proceed to 
New Orleans to save his property from confiscation ; in the haste 
to consider every one disloyal in that city, unless an owner was on 
the spot, and able to prove his integrity, mistakes and injustice 
were apt to occur ; but Mr. Tulane was able to preserve his large 
estates there without material loss ; and his good friend, Governor 



PAUL TULANE. 4^5 

Olden, of New Jersey, saw to it that his Princeton property did 
not suffer in the interim. After the peace he was again found in 
his accustomed place on the veranda of the old stone house ; and 
during all the years of his retirement, Mr. Tulane has been stead- 
ily building up a reputation for liberal and discriminating charity, 
which has caused him to be looked upon as a sort of modern 
"Abou Ben Adhem" among his neighbors and cotemporaries. One 
rather uncommon item of his charities was a way he had of paying 
pew-rents for poor people, so that they need not be humiliated by 
sitting in special pews set apart for the impecunious. At Christ- 
mas time he often gave away as many as two hundred turkeys, 
and this was but one item among other timely gifts. Like one of 
the Lowells, of Boston, he had a special tenderness as to the poor 
suffering from cold, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to 
estimate the value of the numerous loads of wood and coal quietly 
unloaded before unexpectant eyes but grateful hearts, as the re- 
cipient recognized the fact that " Mr. Tulane must have sent it!" 

Not content with these continuous donations of a private kind, 
Mr. Tulane, who has always cherished a kindly feeling for the city 
of New Orleans, the place where he laid the basis of his large for- 
tune, determined to pay back with interest the debt of gratitude 
which he felt he owed to that community, which had so liberally 
sustained him in his early manhood and maturer age. Some few 
years since he determined to appropriate the bulk of his real estate 
in that city for the purpose of establishing a University there. 
This property amounted in value to $2,000,000, and the income of 
this he desired to apply to the immediate founding of the institu- 
tion of learning, which is limited to the use and for the education 
of white young men of New Orleans. Languages, literature, 
science and art, are designated as the leading studies to be culti- 
vated, though we do not understand that other branches of learn- 
ing- ar e to be excluded, otherwise a College would be a more fit- 
ing name than that of " University." Mr. Tulane next engaged 
certain friends of his in New Orleans to obtain incorporation as a 
30 



466 PAUL TULANE. 

company, and secure a charter from the Legislature, and also, if 
possible, exemption from taxation for the property donated. Hav- 
ing proceeded as far as they could in carrying out these requests, 
four of the trustees, namely, Messrs. General Gibson, of Louisiana; 
James McConnell, W. H. Hughes, and W. H. Strong, came to 
Princeton, bringing the necessary documents with them, to enable 
Mr. Tulane to make the transfer of his property to the Board of 
Trustees; this he did in the presence of a Commissioner for the 
State of Louisiana. By the deed thus conveyed (June, 1882) the 
College is donated exclusively for the education of white males. 
Mr. Tulane had not, it seems, any objection to the education of 
the colored race, but apparently wished to avoid all exciting ques- 
tions as to the beneficiaries intended, and specially wished to pre- 
vent any of the funds from being employed in testing legal ques- 
tions as to rights of admission. Of " co-education," in the modern 
meaning of that phrase, he does not appear to have ever thought. 
The trustees are forbidden to sell or mortgage any part of the 
real estate for fifty years, but if, at the end of that time, they or 
their successors " deem it wise " they may sell the property and 
divide the proceeds among the educational institutions of the city. 
It is left optional with the trustees either to build or lease for the 
purposes of College accommodation. This generous deed, giving 
away unconditionally $2,000,000, was signed by Mr. Tulane in a 
bold hand, strongly resembling that of the familiar name of John 
Hancock when signing the original Declaration of Independence. 
After this action became known in Princeton, a bank director 
was heard to remark: "Well, we are still ready to honor his check' 
for another $2,000,000." To show the anxiety of Mr. Tulane that 
no legal doubts should arise over the execution of this trust-fund 
after his death, we may mention that, having observed some inter- 
lineations in some of the papers, he ordered new drafts to be pre- 
pared, which should be absolutely correct, and unmarred by 
erasures or additions. At the request of his friends, after the 
signing of the deed, Mr. Tulane allowed himself to be photo- 



PAUL TULANE. 467 

graphed — full length, life-size, holding the deed of conveyance in 
his right hand. From this an oil painting will be made, which will 
adorn the walls of the university when it is opened for the recep- 
tion of pupils. 

On one point the incorporators had failed; they could not secure 
the exemption from taxation of the property thus signed away for 
the public good by Mr. Tulane. To test the matter, a suit was 
brought in the Civil District Court of New Orleans, to secure an 
injunction restraining the State tax assessors from assessing the 
property, and this court decided in favor of the applicants, but on 
appeal to the Supreme Court, Justice Manning decided in favor 
of the assessors. The next step taken by the friends of the 
university was to petition the Legislature of the State to pass a 
law exempting the property by name from taxation. The cause 
of the institution was advocated by the Hon. William A. Seay, of 
Caddo, Louisiana ; he particularly dwelling upon the point that the 
events of the war, having given the franchise to ignorance, has 
made the subject of education the one of supreme importance. 
With much wit, as well as wisdom, he argued that the most en- 
lightened people of antiquity not only did not tax their benefactors, 
but generously supported them at the expense of the State, while 
the benefactor of New Orleans only asked not to have his gift to 
the people curtailed by the tax-gatherer. Mr. Seay is himself a 
graduate of Princeton, and therefore more fully appreciated the 
value of Mr. Tulane's gift. 

The organization of the faculty was begun by the election of 
Colonel William Preston Johnson, son of the late Albert Sidney 
Johnson, as President of the University, and Senator R. L. Gibson, 
as chief of its Executive Committee. That Mr. Tulane stood 
ready to add an endowment fund of the value of $16,000 per 
annum, if the main fund was exempt from taxation, was certainly 
a forcible argument in its favor. 

Notwithstanding the continual outflow of Mr. Tulane's generos- 
ity, his wealth continues to increase rather than diminish. He 



468 PAUL TULANE. 

owns about $500,000 in stock of the United Railways of New 
Jersey, which have been leased by the Pennsylvania Railway, which 
guarantees an annual dividend of ten per cent., and this is but one 
item of his many investments. Mr. Tulane " still lives," and 
though he has already passed his threescore years and ten, we 
hope he may yet remain to see and welcome graduates from the 
institution he was wise enough to found while his mental faculties 
were yet clear, thus avoiding the chance of a disputed will, and 
the fruits of a lifetime of labor dissipated among the legal frater- 
nity — a very useful and honorable body, but not often voluntarily 
chosen as the legatees of millionaires. In personal appearance 
Mr. Tulane is of medium height, naturally a man of brawn and 
sinew, and with no waste timber in his make-up. He adheres to the 
old fashion of close shaving, but his eyebrows are very heavy and 
grayer than his hair, which was originally black ; his once piercing 
dark eyes are somewhat dimmed, and his sight is not good; other- 
wise, he is in every respect well preserved, which a man of his 
generous impulses deserves to be. 




M. W. BALDWIN. 



MATTHIAS W. BALDWIN. 

Matthias W. Baldwin, the most celebrated locomotive-engine- 
builder America has ever produced, was born on December ioth, 
1795, in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. His father was William 
Baldwin, a carriage-maker. The family at one time was in pros- 
perous circumstances, but the death of Mr. Baldwin was the begin- 
ning of a series of misfortunes, which terminated in the loss of all 
the property which had been left for the maintenance of the widow 
and her children. This disaster was the result chiefly of the mis- 
management of the estate by the executors. 

Mathias was thus very early brought face to face with the hard 
realities of life, and taught those lessons of self-reliance and self- 
helpfulness which are so essential to success in its struggle. At 
an early period he developed a decided genius for mechanics ; his 
toys were taken apart, not simply to gratify his childish curiosity, 
so common in one of his years, but with an eager interest to learn 
the secret of their mechanism. Often he would reproduce his 
toys in an improved form, or construct others superior in ingenu- 
ity and finish to those he had destroyed. 

At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to the firm of Wool- 
worth Brothers, manufacturers of jewelry in Frankfort, Penn- 
sylvania. 

Here he served his full time, mastering all the details of the 
business and becoming a highly finished workman. Armed with 
the highest testimonials from his late masters, he, upon attaining 
his majority, entered the employment of the firm of Fletcher & Gar- 
diner, very extensive manufacturers of jewelry in Philadelphia, where 
he speedily became the most useful and trusted workman in the es- 
tablishment, producing work of the highest delicacy in finish and 

(469) 



470 MATTHIAS W. BALDWIN. 

of great beauty and originality of design. In the year 1819 he 
determined to assume a more independent position and begin 
business as a jeweler upon his own account. But this laudable 
effort to improve his fortunes was not destined to be successful ; 
a great depression in trade came on, financial difficulties ensued, 
and he was compelled to abandon the enterprise. During the next 
few years he was engaged in a large number and variety of under- 
takings, all illustrating the versatility of his resources and his skill 
as a mechanic, if not his business ability. For a brief period, 
however, he abandoned mechanics, and, in company with Mr. 
Simon Colton, engaged in the grocery trade at the corner of 
Second and Dock streets, Philadelphia, then the business centre 
of the city. But his mechanical genius soon asserted itself, and 
he turned his attention to the invention and manufacture of 
machinery. 

Among the results of his inventive ability was a process by 
which gilding was greatly simplified. He also invented the 
copper cylinder for printing calicoes, an invention which was of 
the highest possible practical utility and importance, and which 
indeed created a revolution in the industry, the printing up to that 
time having been done by means of blocks and hand-presses. 
Previous to this he had made such great improvements in the 
manufacture of book-binders' tools — which, up to that time, had 
been chiefly imported — as to drive all foreign goods out of the 
market. The making of wooden screws was another branch of 
industry in which he was highly successful. 

Work now came in so rapidly that he was compelled to increase 
the size of his shop, as well as some additional motive power. In 
his humble beginnings he had used foot and hand machinery; then 
horse-power was employed, and finally he purchased a small steam- 
engine. Upon trial this did not prove entirely satisfactory, and he 
determined to build one for himself; and so, entirely from his own 
drawings, was produced a little six-horse-power engine, occupying 
but six square feet of space, which is now nearly fifty years old, 



MATTHIAS W. BALDWIN. 4/1 

and up to a few years ago was doing good service in the boiler- 
room of the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, where it 
is still in good order and carefully preserved. 

As will be seen, this event was not without its significance, for it 
doubtless turned his attention to a field of enterprise in which it was 
to be his fortune to achieve the highest possible success. The first 
locomotive ever brought to this country was imported, in 1 830, by the 
Camden & Amboy Railroad Company. Its advent, of course, excited 
the greatest possible curiosity and interest among all classes, but 
especially among machinists. Mr. Baldwin carefully examined this 
engine before it was put together, and made drawings of its 
mechanism. These, together with such published descriptions as 
he was able to obtain of the locomotives then in use upon the 
Liverpool & Manchester Railway in England, and others which 
had taken part in the Rainhill competition in that country, furnished 
the basis upon which he proceeded to construct a miniature engine, 
which in many respects was a substantial improvement upon its 
predecessors. 

The building of this engine was undertaken at the urgent re- 
quest of Mr. Franklin Peale, proprietor of what was then known 
as Peak's Museum, in Philadelphia. Upon its completion, a cir- 
cular track of pine boards, covered with hoop-iron and laid upon 
the floor of the building, was built for it, as well as two small cars, 
holding four persons, and on April 25th, 1831, the little motor be- 
gan its trips. The novelty of the spectacle drew an immense 
number of people to the museum, much to the profit of the mana- 
ger. And so began Mr. Baldwin's course as a locomotive builder. 
The success of this experimental effort resulted in an immediate 
order for a locomotive for the Germantown Railroad, a short road 
— but six miles long — running out of Philadelphia. 

In working upon this large one he experienced great difficulties; 
not only had much of the machinery, but also the tools for its 
making, to be originated. Cylinders were bored by a chisel fixed 
in a block of wood and turned by hand ; workmen also were in- 



47 2 MATTHIAS W. BALDWIN. 

experienced ; blacksmiths able to weld a bar of iron exceeding one 
and a quarter inches in thickness were few or not to be had. In- 
deed, much of the work upon this engine he was compelled to do 
with his own hands. Although some imperfections were found to 
exist when it made its trial trip, November 23d, 1832, it proved to 
be a substantial success, and, after some slight modifications, it was 
accepted by the company, in whose service it remained for the 
period of fully twenty years. 

As compared with modern locomotives, it was a puny and ill- 
made affair ; weighed but five tons, the contract price for its build- 
ing being only $3,500. The smoke-stack was a cylinder, uniform 
in diameter at all points ; its top bent at right angles and carried 
backward towards the rear of the engine. The wheels w r ere made 
with heavy cast-iron hubs, wooden spokes and rims and wrought^ 
iron tires. The introduction of a steam-engine upon this road, 
which had previously relied solely upon horse power, excited great 
interest in the community, and caused the managers to issue the 
following: "Notice — The locomotive-engine (built by Mr. M. W. 
Baldwin of this city) will depart daily, when the weather is fair, 
with a train of passenger cars. On rainy days horses will be 
attached!'' 

The Chronicle, a local newspaper, under the date of November 
24th, 1832, has the following account of the trial trip of this en- 
gine, which was christened the " Old Ironsides": "It gives us 
pleasure to state that the locomotive-engine built by our towns- 
man, M. W. Baldwin, has proved highly successful. In the pres- 
ence of several gentlemen of science and information on such 
subjects, the engine was yesterday placed upon the road for the 
first time. All her parts had been previously highly finished and 
fitted together in Mr. Baldwin's factory. She was taken apart 
on Tuesday and removed to the company's depot, and yesterday 
morning she was completely put together, ready for travel. After 
the regular passenger-cars had arrived from Germantown in the 
afternoon, the tracks being clear, preparation was made for her 



MATTHIAS W. BALDWIN. 473 

starting. The placing fire in the furnace and raising steam occu- 
pied twenty minutes. 

"The engine (with her tender) moved from the depot in beautiful 
style, working with great ease and uniformity. She proceeded 
about half a mile beyond the Union tavern, at the township line, 
and returned immediately, a distance of six miles, at a speed of 
about twenty-eight miles to the hour, her speed having been 
slackened at all the road crossings, and it being after dark, but a 
portion of her power was used. It is needless to say that the 
spectators were delighted. From this experiment there is every 
reason to believe that this engine will draw thirty tons gross, at an 
average speed of forty miles an hour on a level road." 

Notwithstanding difficulties and embarrassments so great as to 
almost induce him to say at one time, " This is our last locomo- 
tive," he produced in 1834 two engines, one for the South Carolina 
Railroad, and the other for the Pennsylvania State Line Railroad, 
running from Philadelphia to Columbia, and built and operated 
by the State. This latter engine was the largest and most pow- 
erful which up to that time had been built. It weighed 17,000 
pounds and was capable of drawing seventeen loaded cars at one 
time. 

Other orders immediately followed : several for the same road, 
by order of the legislature, and one for the Philadelphia and Tren- 
ton Railroad. In the year 1835 he built fourteen locomotives, and 
in 1836 the large number of forty were completed in his already 
famous works. 

But the great financial panic of 1837, in which so many fortunes 
were wrecked, and in which an almost universal bankruptcy over- 
whelmed the nation, counted Mr. Baldwin too among its victims. 
Unable to meet his obligations, he called together his creditors, 
and asked and obtained an extension. Ultimately, after five years 
of unremitting industry and close economy, every indebtedness, 
principal and interest, was paid to the last farthing. 

The Baldwin Locomotive Works continued to increase in size, 



474 MATTHIAS W. BALDWIN. 

until they now occupy an area of nine acres in all, of which be- 
tween six and seven acres are under roof. These. works, in the 
year 1880, turned out the enormous number of 517 finished loco- 
motives. Orders are constantly received from all parts of the 
world. As aji evidence of the productive capacity of this estab- 
lishment, the following extract from the " History of the Baldwin 
Locomotive Works" is of interest: " Forty heavy ' Mogul' loco- 
motives (nineteen by twenty-four cylinder, driving-wheels four and 
one-half feet in diameter) were constructed early in 1878 for two 
Russian railways (the Kowisk Charkof Azof, and the Orel Griazi). 
The definite order for these locomotives was only received on the 
1 6th of December, 1877, and as all were required to be delivered 
in Russia by the following May, especial despatch was necessary. 
The working force was increased from 1,100 to 2,300 men in about 
two weeks. The first of the forty was erected, and tried under 
steam on January 5th, three weeks after the receipt of the order, 
and was finished, ready to dismantle and pack for shipment, one 
week later. 

"The last engine of this order was completed February 13th. 
The forty engines were thus constructed in about eight weeks, 
besides twenty-eight additional engines on other orders, which 
were constructed wholly or partially, and shipped during the same 
period." 

Mr. Baldwin lived to enjoy a full measure of success and pros- 
perity, which he had so richly earned. His death took place in 
Philadelphia, September 7th, 1866. His wife and three daughters 
survived him. Every year he expended many thousands of dollars 
in private charities. Two churches were built by him entirely at 
his own cost, and many others were materially aided by his liberal 
donations. In all missionary enterprises and efforts at church 
extension, he was a most zealous worker, and his contributions 
for the furtherance of such objects were munificent. In Philadel- 
phia his memory will long be cherished as a consistent Christian, a 
stainless citizen, and an honest man. 



NATHANIEL THAYER, A. M. 

Who in Boston has not heard of the great banking firm of John 
E. Thayer & Brother? A firm which had endured for nearly half 
a century, and of which Nathaniel was the junior partner. To 
read the biographical sketches of successful men, readers must al- 
most be forced to come to the conclusion that there are no boys 
born in the great cities, so almost uniformly is the native home of 
the millionaire discovered to be some unimportant little country 
town, or a farm beyond the boundary of paved streets. Nathaniel 
Thayer was no exception to this general rule. He was born in 
Lancaster, Worcester county, Massachusetts, September nth, 
1808, where his father, Rev. Dr Nathaniel Thayer, had officiated 
as a clergyman for fifty years. Lancaster is situated in the beau- 
tiful valley of the Nashua, and like most New England towns had 
within its borders the means of giving a good education to all its 
sons ; and we do not learn that Nathaniel went outside of his 
native place for instruction. But he belonged to a family of 
scholars, and of ministers, though he did not seek a learned pro- 
fession for himself. His grandfather on the paternal side had 
graduated at Harvard in 1753, and subsequently studied for the 
ministry, as did his father ; and on the mother's side he was a 
direct descendant of the famous non-conformist, Rev. John Cotton, 
who fled in 1633 from the High Commission Court established by 
Laud, reaching Boston on September 4th of that year. Hence, on 
both branches of the family tree are found teachers of the people ; 
men held in such high esteem and respect as is unknown at this 
day even of the highest in the land. It is said of the elder Thayer 
that he was one of the best specimens of that class of country 
ministers whose serious gravity and serenity added to them an 

(475) 



476 NATHANIEL THAYER, A. M. 

aspect of superior dignity, which was certainly enhanced by but 
did not depend upon their profession. 

Among the classmates of the Rev. Dr. Thayer were such men 
as Buckminster, Channing, Kirkland, Freeman, Bancroft, and 
Thatcher, and the young Nathaniel must often have had the priv- 
ilege of listening to the conversation of these men, which, to an 
intelligent youth, is equal to several sessions of academical in- 
struction. Starting from such a home, we have a right to expect 
that young Thayer, if he did not devote himself to letters, would 
at least be interested in the support of liberal education ; and this 
expectation, as we shall see, was amply fulfilled. 

For many years, in addition to the banking business, the firm 
of John E. Thayer & Brother was engaged in the forwarding of 
railroad interests, particularly in the West. Though often solicited 
to make investments in some of the many manufacturing interests 
with which Massachusetts abounds, Mr. Thayer invariably declined, 
conceiving that there was ample space and verge enough in the 
lines which the firm had chosen to expend all his energies, and it 
is certainly true that larger fortunes have been made in this coun- 
try in banking and railroading than in any other direction. 

Nearly from the commencement of the period when he became 
able to give liberally, Mr. Thayer selected Harvard University as 
the most favored recipient of his bounty. In this his elder brother 
and partner, John Elliot, had been before him : so long ago as 
1855 the latter made a will, giving to Harvard the sum of $50,000, 
at the same time explaining that he " had intended to have given 
to the University a very large sum," but that " perceiving a con- 
stant disposition among politicians and certain sectarians to get 
possession of the same," he had no doubt they would greatly in- 
jure it. Whether Mr. John Thayer recovered his faith in Har- 
vard sufficiently to finally give a larger sum is not necessary to 
inquire into here, but it is certain that Nathaniel never wavered 
in his love for the old University, of which nearly all his ancestral 
relatives were alumni ; and how delighted would the old clergy- 



NATHANIEL THAYER, A. M. 477 

man have been could he have foreseen how his name would have 
been honored by his namesake in his alma mater, for the late 
Nathaniel Thayer was the most liberal donor to it since the days 
of its founder, John Harvard, and in actual money gave more than 
he. Nor did Mr. Thayer wait till he was in his grave, but dis- 
tributed these gifts along through the years at intervals, meeting 
felt needs, and enjoying the sight of the practical benefit of these 
gifts ; and even long before the large special endowments were 
bestowed, his generosity had been abundantly exercised in assist- 
ing individual students to commence or continue their studies, who 
would otherwise have been unable to do so. 

The first large gift was put into the shape of a memorial build- 
ing, called "Thayer Hall," which was erected in 1870, and was in- 
tended to commemorate both his father, Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, 
D.D., and his brother, John Elliot Thayer. The cost was $100,000. 

In 1865 a great lack of accommodation was felt for such stu- 
dents as wished to live " in commons." At this period Dr. Pea- 
body was president of the college, and he had caused temporary 
arrangements to be made for some of these to use a part of the 
Thayer Memorial Hall as a dining-room, but this structure not 
having been built for any such purpose, was not fitted for it, and 
much inconvenience ensued. Mr. Thayer learning of this need, 
bought a disused station of the Fitchburg Railroad, in Cambridge, 
contiguous to the college-grounds, enlarged it, and fitted it up for 
a dining-hall, and it is now known as Thayer Commons Hall. 
This hall was used for the purpose intended for ten years, from 
1865-75, when the new Memorial Hall, dedicated to the memory 
of the patriotic dead, was opened, this being the finest hall of the 
kind either in this country or in Europe. The Thayer Commons 
Hall had in the meantime done good work ; meals being furnished 
there to the students at the mere cost of the materials and their 
preparation, thus enabling many young men to complete a college 
course who could not have borne the expense of private tables. 
Mr. Thayer had spent $8,000 in fitting this up. 



478 NATHANIEL THAYER, A. M. 

Fifteen thousand dollars was devoted by Mr. Thayer to the 
erection of the " Grey Herbarium." This was named in compli- 
ment to the eminent Professor of Botany at Harvard, and was a 
structure erected in 1874, on the grounds of the Botanic Garden, 
to secure a fire-proof building for the large collection of specimens 
arranged and classified by his friend Grey, in the interest of the 
University. It was one of the happiest days of the great botanist's 
life, when he saw the work of a lifetime not only safely housed, but 
with space enough to have everything displayed to the best advan- 
tage for the students of that useful and interesting science. 

But perhaps even this donation yields in general interest to the 
magnificent series of sums which Mr. Thayer devoted to scientific 
purposes through the agency of the late Professor Louis Agassiz. 
In 1865 Professor Agassiz found it necessary for his health to take 
a somewhat lengthy vacation, and various projects were consid- 
ered as to where some six or eight months should be spent. 
Europe was thought too exciting for one seeking mental rest, and 
there was not the same opening for practical scientific work, there 
being too many competitors on the other side of the Atlantic ; 
finally South America was fixed upon, as affording scenes of health- 
ful out-door life and a vast and novel field for scientific research ; 
but this, however, Professor Agassiz felt must be very limited if he 
went alone. Thinking this matter over, he happened to meet Mr. 
Thayer, who congratulated him in a very cordial way on his pros- 
pective trip. The great scientist knew Mr. Thayer as one of the 
most princely givers in New England, but he could not think of 
asking him to father an expedition of the magnitude which his 
day-dreams had planned out; but before he had time even to rally 
his thoughts on the subject, Mr. Thayer relieved him by the re- 
mark : "You wish, of course, to give this journey a scientific char- 
acter ; take six assistants with you, and I will be responsible for all 
their expenses, personal and scientific." Professor Agassiz says 
that " this was so simply said, and seemed to me so great a boon, 
that at first I hardly believed that I had heard him rightly; but in 



NATHANIEL THAYER, A. M. 479 

the end I had cause to see in how large and liberal a sense he 
proffered his support to the expedition, which, as is usually the 
case, cost much more than was estimated. Not only did he pro- 
vide most liberally for my assistants, but until the last specimen 
was stored in the museum, he continued to advance whatever 
sums were needed." 

Although this " Thayer Expedition," as it was called in Boston, 
was apparently a personal gift and favor to Professor. Agassiz, it 
was really in the service of Harvard, for all the fruits of it were to 
be deposited there, and, as Mr. Thayer jocosely complained, "the 
cost of the alcohol was enormous, for the Professor had emptied 
the ocean of fishes, and consequently needed an ocean of alcohol 
in which to preserve them ! " The members of the expedition de- 
voted the larger portion of the time employed in exploration of 
the Amazon and its borders ; a geologist, ornithologist, conchol- 
ogist, photographer and others, following up their several 
branches of work with the same zeal with which their leader de- 
voted himself to fishes ; several volunteers joined this party, among 
whom was Mr. S. V. R. Thayer ; Mrs. Agassiz was also of the 
number; and making daily record of all the interesting events 
which occurred, scientific and otherwise, the result was a book of 
over five hundred pages, which served to give an outline, in popu- 
lar form, of what the expedition accomplished. For this book 
Professor Agassiz wrote a preface, in which he states the origin 
of the journey and Mr. Thayer's munificent part in it. This book 
is also dedicated to him in the following words (after the title, "A 
Journey in Brazil ") : " To Mr. Nathaniel Thayer, the friend who 
made it possible to give this journey the character of a scientific 
expedition, the present volume is gratefully inscribed. Louis 
Agassiz." The museum at Cambridge can now boast the finest 
collection of South American fishes of any college in the world. 

Though Harvard took precedence in Mr. Thayer's thoughtful 
beneficence, his gifts were not limited to Cambridge ; hardly a good 
or charitable object could be mentioned in Boston which has not 



480 NATHANIEL THAYER, A. M. 

the name of Nathaniel Thayer among its contributors. Belonging 
to a good old stock of worthy ancestors, he was naturally willing 
to have their several records preserved ; hence we find him an ac- 
tive life-member of the New England Historical and Genealogical 
Society, an association which has rendered essential service to 
hundreds of historical students. Mr. Thayer married early in life 
Miss Cornelia Van Rensselaer, of Albany, New York, from which 
marriage there were seven children. Previous to his death, on 
the 7th of March, 1883, Mr. Thayer had suffered for months with 
an incurable disease, but was at last released by an attack of apo- 
plexy. His widow and six children survive him. By his will he 
disposed of property valued at $16,000,000, most of which was 
given to relatives and friends. The Children's Hospital of Boston 
received $10,000; the Boston Provident Association a like amount, 
and the sum of $30,000 was given to the Massachusetts General 
Hospital. 



SAMUEL COLT. 

Samuel Colt was one of the few fortunate inventors who was 
not compelled to fight his way against poverty and competing 
rivals, and though he lived to only middle age, his life might be 
considered eminently successful. He was not a " model boy ;" he 
was restless, disliked study, and his eminently respectable father, 
who was a manufacturer of cotton and woollen goods, scarcely 
knew what to do with him. Samuel was born on the 19th of July, 
1 8 14, in Hartford, Connecticut, and by the time he was ten years old 
he had exhibited such a predilection for the factory over the school- 
room, that his father allowed him to go to work, and here he re- 
mained for three years, except now and then working on a farm. 
When he was thirteen his father, unwilling that he should grow 
up without any education, sent him to boarding-school at Amherst, 
Massachusetts ; but all would not do ; he ran away from school, 
and shipped for a voyage to the East Indies on the " Coroo." It 
was while aboard of this vessel that he invented his famous re- 
volver, not with all its latest improvements, but really the germ 
of " Colt's revolver," whittling the model out of wood. When he 
returned home he was quite willing to remain there, after his ocean 
experiences, and entered the chemical department of his father's 
factory, at Ware, Massachusetts, then in charge of an able chemist 
named W. T. Smith, to learn its mysteries. For this study he had 
a fancy, and progressed rapidly, appearing quite content. He 
was a rather precociously developed youth, and when only eigh- 
teen might easily have passed for twenty-two ; taking advantage 
of this full-grown adult appearance, he started off on a lecturing 
tour, under the name of Dr. Coult, and lectured successfully on 
chemistry, which he illustrated with interesting experiments, 
31 (481) 



482 SAMUEL COLT. 

through the United States and Canada ; returning home at the 
end of two years with quite a handsome sum as the result. 

The money made during this extended trip was devoted to the 
perfecting of his pistol, on which he applied for and obtained a 
patent in 1835. He also procured patents in France and England. 
His object now was to effect the organization of a company, to be 
called the " Patent Arms Company," which he was able to accom- 
plish through the help of some New York capitalists, with a cash 
basis of $300,000, a factory being established at Paterson, New 
Jersey. Efforts were at once made to induce the government to 
use them in the army, but red-tape and the prejudice of the old 
army officers prevented the adoption of this improved arm until 
the breaking out of the Seminole war in Florida, when a regiment 
under Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey was armed with them. Its suc- 
cess was great, and the service it had rendered admitted, but after 
the close of the war, the demand for the revolver fell off to such 
an extent that in 1842 the Patent Arms Company suspended work 
and closed out the concern. That they had carried no dead stock 
is certain, for when the Mexican war broke out there was not a 
" Colt's revolver " to be had. 

General Taylor, who had seen the execution these arms did in 
Florida, wished to arm his Texan rangers with them, and sent to 
Colt for a supply, but he had not even one left as a model to work 
by; and when the government added an order for 1,000, he had 
to set to work to make a new model, in which process he added 
some improvements, which their extensive use had suggested. At 
the close of the Mexican war, the opening up of the gold regions 
in California, and the immense exodus from the East to the West, 
kept up the demand for the revolvers, and Mr. Colt prepared for 
a permanent business. In 1851 he commenced the erection of an 
armory at Hartford, which he meant should be the largest and 
most complete in the world. This immense stone structure was 
built on thoroughly drained meadow-land, just south of the Mill 
river; the dike which protected it was two miles long, 150 feet 



SAMUEL COLT. 483 

wide at the base, from 30 to 60 feet wide at the top, and 25 feet 
high. The armory consisted of three buildings, in the form of a 
letter H. The front was 500 by 60 feet, the rear 500 by 40, the 
connecting central building was 250 by 50 feet, the main building 
three stories high, with offices, etc., attached. On the outbreak 
of the civil war these enormous buildings were duplicated, so 
greatly had the demand for these pistols increased. In the first 
year of the war, this factory turned out 120,000. The machinery 
for making these arms is also constructed on the ground. 

It is greatly to the credit of Colonel Colt, that while he was 
rapidly accumulating wealth for himself, he did not forget the 
welfare of his workmen. He constructed for them neat, conve- 
nient residences, built for them a public hall, in which was a good 
library, instituted courses of lectures, organized a band of musicians 
from among his employes, uniformed them at his own expense, 
and supplied them with a splendid set of instruments ; formed a 
military company among the men, and found the uniforms for these 
also. In 1855 Colonel Colt married a daughter of the Rev. Dr. 
Jarvis, of Portland, Connecticut. He built a beautiful mansion in 
Hartford for his residence, one of the handsomest in the city. He 
made several visits to Europe, and in 1856, while in Russia, was 
present by invitation at the coronation of Alexander II. Nearly 
all the royal heads of Europe presented him with decorations, 
orders of merit, medals, or other souvenirs, in recognition of the 
value of his inventions, which included, besides the revolver, a sub- 
marine battery for harbor defence, and a submarine telegraph 
cable, which was a prophecy and precursor of the great Atlantic 
cable. He died at his residence in Hartford on the 10th of Janu- 
ary, 1862, at the early age of forty-eight, leaving a large fortune. 



ROBERT BONNER. 

Two classes of people in the United States take a permanent 
interest in Robert Bonner — those who love a good horse, and 
those who enjoy an exciting story "to be continued" in the Ledger. 
Though born abroad, in the vicinity of Londonderry, Ireland, April 
28, 1824, he came to this country in his fifteenth year early enough 
to become thoroughly Americanized. He had then an uncle in Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, a prosperous, even wealthy farmer ; in fact, at 
the time of his death, he owned all the buildings on one entire 
street. Young Robert was described at this time as having "a 
big head, with two flashing hazel eyes, looking out from under a 
great white solid dome of a forehead." From his good solid sense 
he had before leaving home acquired the nickname of " the old 
man." Quite early he developed a fancy for the printer's craft, 
and in accordance with his own request was entered in the office 
of the Hartford Courant to learn the compositor's art. Prede- 
termined to become a good workman, he worked with zeal at the 
case, and very soon acquired the reputation of being a very careful 
and swift type-setter. It is related of him, that while still young at 
the business, when there was great pressure in the office to get 
the President's Message in type before a rival office, that Robert 
Bonner set up his copy at the rate of 1,700 ems an hour, a feat 
then pronounced unparalleled, but which we believe has since been 
attained by others. 

When about twenty years of age, Mr. Bonner decided to try his 
fortunes in New York; his reputation as a good compositor had 
preceded him, and he found no difficulty in getting a position. 
Somewhat curiously his first engagement in the city was upon an 
organ of the " Native American " party, called the American Re- 
(484) 




ROBERT BONNFR. 



ROBERT BONNER. 485 

publican, which was started in 1844. This paper, like the party it 
represented, was short-lived, and when it suspended publication 
Mr. Bonner sought and found employment in the office of Morris 
& Willis, who were then publishing the Evening Mirror, which 
was the predecessor of the Home "Journal. While in this office 
Mr. Bonner developed a new quality as a printer; the getting up 
of advertisements was intrusted to him, and in this department 
there being opportunity for the display of taste, he succeeded in 
producing such neat and attractive " ads," that the improved ap- 
pearance of the Mirror was generally remarked. It was not long 
before the trade discovered who the young typo was who set up 
these advertisements, and Mr. Bonner very soon received an in- 
vitation to take a situation on the Merchant's Ledger. This paper 
ultimately failed, and Mr. Bonner bought out the stock, and what 
remained of " good-will " in the paper. This fi good-will," how- 
ever, was not very pronounced on the part of the retiring pro- 
prietors, for they had become jealous of Mr. Bonner's growing 
influence, and though they had opened their editorial columns to 
articles from his pen, the very favor with which these were re- 
ceived annoyed them. It was a mutual relief when they parted. 

Mr. Bonner had never intended to remain a compositor all his 
days ; even in his boyhood in the office in Hartford he had dreams 
of one day owning a paper himself, and now at last the dream was 
realized — he had an office and a paper. True, neither were worth 
much ; the Merchant's Ledger had struggled through a miserable 
existence, and was really moribund when he first entered the office; 
the new life which he infused into it kept the breath of life in it.a few 
months longer than it would otherwise have done, but now it must 
give up the ghost. Mr. Bonner did not intend to continue the 
paper which he had bought in its then shape ; he would drop the 
first half of the name, and with the latter take a new departure. 
His idea was to produce a literary paper. Fortunately for him, 
just at this time a new aspirant for popular favor appeared before 
the public in the shape of a sharp, sarcastic writer, who had just 



486 ROBERT BONNER. 

published a sort of autobiographical novel called " Ruth Hall," the 
author of which was a sister of the popular editor of the Home 
Journal, N. P. Willis, and who afterwards became better known 
as " Fanny Fern." Here was the fresh pen, with unhackneyed 
ideas, devoid of conventionalities, for which Mr. Bonner had been 
looking. Her sudden popularity had arisen in great measure 
from the interest which was felt in her brother, Mr. Willis ; he had 
been for years the idolized pet of New York dilettanti society, and 
this sudden attack on him by one of his own kin, who represented 
him as a vain, mean, and wholly artificial creature, gave a spurious 
interest to " Ruth Hall," which its mediocre literary merit would 
never have obtained for it. But all the same, it answered Mr. 
Bonner's purpose. He wrote to the author, and offered her an 
unheard-of sum to write a story for the Ledger. At first refusing, 
and then coquetting with this offer for some time, " Fanny Fern," 
formerly Miss Willis, adopting this alliterative name as a nont de 
plume, consented. Mr. Bonner now entered upon a most ex- 
traordinary course of advertising. He had, on receipt of the story 
written by " Fanny Fern," sent her a check for $1,000, a sum per- 
fectly unprecedented for that kind of work. But it was not for 
her benefit particularly that he indulged in this extravagance, but 
for his own ; he turned the payment to account by advertising the 
fact. He double-leaded the story (which was really of no peculiar 
excellence), and wrote above it that he had " paid a thousand dol- 
lars " for it, and he then hired whole columns in the daily and 
Sunday papers, occupied with two or three phrases, such as 
"'Fanny Fern' writes for the Ledger I" "Buy the New York 
Ledger!" "Read the thousand-dollar story in the Ledger!" etc. 
This mode of advertising was then absolutely new, and even 
eclipsed in novelty and audacity the " great showman," P. T. 
Barnum's, advertisements. But while people read and wondered, 
many also criticised this sensational style of advertising as vulgar, 
and concluded that the paper itself could not be of a refined order. 
Quick to interpret the feeling of the community, and determined 



ROBERT BONNER. 487 

that his paper should not suffer under the stigma of vulgarity, Mr. 
Bonner took a most extraordinary and audacious course to put 
his Ledger upon an unquestioned plane of respectability. One 
day the reading public were astonished upon opening their daily 
Heralds and other papers to see spread over whole pages the 
words, " Buy Harpei's Weekly ! ■ ■ " Buy Harper s Weekly ! " 
(The Weekly had then just started.) As Harper Brothers had 
never indulged in any other than modest advertising, people 
knew not what to think of this sudden outbreak, but attributed it 
to the rivalry of the Ledger^ and many never did learn the real 
fact that the Messrs. Harpers had nothing whatever to do with it, 
but that all of this sensational advertising of Harper s Weekly had 
been ordered and was paid for by Robert Bonner, at a cost of 
many thousand dollars, simply to familiarize people with the idea 
that respectable firms advertised in the same way as did the 
Ledger. 

Another novel and expensive mode of advertising was intro- 
duced by Mr. Bonner, though it has since been extensively imi- 
tated ; this was to publish whole chapters of an exciting story in 
the daily papers, at an enormous expense, concluding at some 
critical point, with the words at the end, " To be continued in the 
New York Ledger T 

Mr. Bonner was destined to meet with a good deal of sharp 
criticism before his paper was fairly established in the good-will 
of the self-elected conservators of public morals. Having disposed 
of the respectability question, by placing the Harpers in the same 
category with himself, his paper was next attacked with the cry of 
"cheap literature," " silly love stories," "not worth reading," etc. 
Mr. Bonner was equal to this assault also, and gave his enemies 
their final quietus on this point by engaging as writers for the 
Ledger some of the best talent in the country, with some of the 
most illustrious names. To secure the aid of these persons re- 
quired great tact and shrewdness on the part of the proprietor of 
the Ledger ; as, for instance, at that time Edward Everett, of 



488 ROBERT BONNER. 

Boston, stood as the synonym in New England for all that was re- 
fined in literature and in social life ; he was a diplomat of the old 
school, and had represented the United States at the Court of St. 
James. If he could be induced to write for the Ledger, there was 
no one in the United States who could refuse on the ground that 
the Ledger was not a fitting vehicle for them in which to express 
their exalted ideas. But how induce the Hon. Edward Everett to 
write for the Ledger — a mere story paper? Mr. Bonner was fer- 
tile in expedients. Just then there was a flurry of excitement 
over the desecration, by neglect, of the home and tomb of 
Washington. An association of ladies had been formed, who had 
charged themselves with the duty of raising funds for the purchase 
and preservation of Mount Vernon. Mr. Everett had interested 
himself in this movement, and had even lectured in Boston and 
some other places in aid of the association. Mr. Bonner knew 
that he would not write for the Ledger from any ordinary personal 
consideration ; but he proposed to him to write a series of articles 
for the Ledger on the subject of Mount Vernon, offering to give in 
return $10,000 to the Ladies' Mount Vernon Association; the offer 
was accepted, and the Vernon papers duly appeared in the Ledger, 
signed with the full name of Edward Everett. His next recruit as 
a contributor was no less a person than George Bancroft, the his- 
torian, after which surprise was thought to be impossible over any- 
thing which Mr. Bonner might achieve ; but there were wonder- 
shocks in store yet for the readers of the Ledger. Before long 
the leading editors of the daily press were, by some occult means, 
induced to contribute each a series of articles ; James Gordon 
Bennett, Horace Greeley and Henry J. Raymond illuminated the 
columns of the Ledger, and what could the fault-finders of the 
lesser prints say after that? Why, they said that, in spite of the 
great names which had appeared, the greater part of the paper 
was given up to light reading, " not fit for young people to 
peruse." Mr. Bonner's answer to this was the engagement of 
articles from the several presidents of the twelve leading colleges 



ROBERT BONNER. 489 

in the United States — as much as to say, " Do you think that 
gentlemen like these 'grave and reverend seigniors ' would write 
for a frivolous paper ? " 

But his great coup de force remained. He had silenced all other 
classes of the community; there remained only the religious fort- 
ress to be stormed. He looked over the country to find the most 
popular clergyman in the United States, whom he meant to capture. 
He had not far to look ; not much more than a mile, in a straight 
line, from the Ledger office, sat a man on Brooklyn Heights to 
whose preaching more people had listened with admiration and 
profit than to any other on the continent. Mr. Bonner went to 
hear this popular theological orator ; he saw that he had a keen 
intelligence, knowledge of human nature, imagination, humor and 
pathos, and he said to himself, " This man can write a novel as 
well as a sermon." He made up his mind; this was the man that 
could cause the Ledger to be admitted into every Christian house- 
hold in the land. He went to Henry Ward Beecher and said to 
him, " Mr. Beecher, I want you to write a novel for the Ledger!' 
Mr. Beecher had, in the course of his varied experience, listened 
to a great many curious propositions, but probably he was never 
quite so much astonished at any proposal as this, an unheard-of 
thing, to ask a clergyman to write a novel for a weekly story- 
paper ! But Mr. Bonner was in earnest, and he offered such a 
wonderful price — $20,000 — that it was enough to make a saint think 
twice before finally declining. Mr. Beecher thought at first that 
he could not do it, but finally consented, and very soon " Norwood" 
appeared. This was undoubtedly the best paying card which Mr. 
Bonner had played, its publication bringing thousands of subscrib- 
ers to the Ledger and extending its circulation all over the Union. 
Calumny was at last silenced, active opposition died away, and Mr. 
Bonner's Ledger went on sailing over prosperous seas, adding 
other popular contributors as time went on, but without excite- 
ment, hurry or anxiety, for the paper was at that time its own best 
advertisement. 



490 ROBERT BONNER. 

Mr. Bonner's hobby outside of the Ledger office is a fine horse. 
Whatever there is in the way of speed and style he buys, if it 
is purchasable. Attention was first drawn to his penchant for fast 
horses by his purchase of Dexter ; the horse was in a western 
city and Mr. Bonner had been on a tour as far as Chicago. On 
being asked what he had seen out West which impressed him 
most, he answered: "Two things: Niagara and Dexter; I could 
not bring home the first, but I have the second." The first seven 
fancy horses which Mr. Bonner bought cost him between two and 
three hundred thousand dollars ; these were, Dexter, Lantern, 
Pocahontas, Peerless, Lady Palmer, Flatbush Mare, and the Auburn 
Horse. Mr. Bonner is not a betting man, and buys and drives 
horses only for his own pleasure, and sometimes perhaps to exult 
over a would-be rival. In fact, there was considerable emulation 
between him and the late Commodore Vanderbilt in this respect, 
and the latter felt much chagrined when Mr. Bonner became the 
possessor of Dexter. He always drives his own horses, and can 
handle the reins as well as any gentleman driver in the country; 
he was the first person who publicly and avowedly devoted him- 
self to " fast horses " who resolutely declined to let them run for 
money. 

In general appearance Mr. Bonner resembles the late Stephen 
A. Douglas. His head is remarkably large, so that he has to have 
his hats made to order; his eyes are very bright and expressive; 
his complexion is clear and fair ; his hair of a reddish brown. He 
is about medium height, stout and straight. He neither drinks 
wine nor uses tobacco. He is a man of positive opinions and does 
everything by rule. He comes to his office every day at 12 m. ; 
remains about three hours, and then usually rides out " on the 
road." Mr. Bonner is a Presbyterian, and an attendant on the 
ministry of the Rev. Dr. John Hall, for the benefit of whose church 
he gave a few years ago $50,000. Being a Presbyterian, he has 
been a liberal donor to several institutions of this denomination 
— notably to Princeton College. 



NICHOLAS LONGWORTH. 

Mr. Longworth may be truly considered the father of grape 
culture in the United States: desultory efforts had been made 
here and there with partial success previous to his time, but he was 
the first large operator who convinced the American people that 
some of their own native grapes were capable of producing wine 
which might successfully vie with the imported article. Nicholas 
Longworth was a native of New Jersey, born in Newark in 1782. 
His family had been reduced from affluence to poverty some years 
before his birth, and after passing through many vicissitudes, at- 
tempting to learn different trades, seeking uselessly a southern 
climate for his health, he returned to Newark and commenced the 
study of law. The profession was already crowded in the Eastern 
States, and young Longworth had the prescience to perceive that 
the West, even then, offered a better opening for a young profes- 
sional man. When twenty-one years of age he, therefore, took 
his departure for the "far west," settling in the young settlement 
of Cincinnati, and was fortunate in obtaining a position as student 
and clerk with the late Judge Jacob Burnet — a very able jurist. 

The first case which young Longworth took before the court, on 
his own account, was the defence of a man accused of horse-theft. 
He won the case, but his client had no money to pay him ; about 
all this man possessed was two second-hand copper stills ; these 
were in the keeping of a person named Williams, who was about 
building a distillery, and who had counted upon using these two 
stills — articles which were not very easily obtained then in that 
region. When, therefore, Mr. Longworth came to take them 
away, Mr. Williams was much embarrassed; still he did not want 
to pay out the cash value for them, so he offered Mr. Longworth 

(490 



492 NICHOLAS LONGWORTH. 

in place of them thirty-three acres of land, barren and apparently 
worthless ; the young lawyer wanted money badly, but he had 
great faith in the future of Cincinnati, and finally consented to take 
this " worthless " land, which a few years later was cut up for city 
lots, lying in the very centre of the business interests of the place. 
The rapid growth of Cincinnati was unprecedented at that time, 
and would have been a marvel at any period, and lots which were 
originally bought for ten dollars, after the lapse of two decades, 
were often worth $10,000. 

During all the early portion of his life in Ohio Mr. Longworth 
kept investing in real-estate, adding year by year something to his 
rapidly accumulating property, and was soon recognized as the 
heaviest real-estate owner in the city. In 1850 his taxes were 
within a few thousand dollars as much as William B. Astor's. In 
1 8 19 he had retired from the practice of the law, finding the care 
of this large property quite sufficient to occupy his time. But 
outside of money-making he had a hobby which his great wealth 
now permitted him to indulge. He had long believed that the 
valley of the Ohio was eminently adapted to the culture of the 
vine. In his first experiments he had relied wholly on cuttings 
from foreign stock, which proved altogether unsatisfactory ; but a 
friend having sent some cuttings from a Catawba vine in 1828, he 
found to his surprise that this native grape throve wonderfully, 
though its natural habitat lies farther south than the Ohio. Its 
home appears to be in North Carolina, in Buncombe county, near 
the sources of the Catawba river. Having found at last the right 
sort of grape Mr. Longworth entered upon its culture with enthu- 
siasm, and on a large scale ; he laid out a large vineyard on the 
gently sloping hill-sides of land that he owned about four miles 
above the city, and as soon as his vines were sufficiently grown he 
freely gave away cuttings to the Germans and others in the vicin- 
ity who cared to cultivate even one vine, and he subsequently 
added largely to his own stock for manufacture, by buying from 
these people all the grape juice they were willing to sell, in any 



NICHOLAS LONGWORTH. 493 

quantity, from a barrel to a quart. He also offered a prize of 
$5,000 for any improvement in the Catawba grape: he also used 
the Isabella grape, but not to any great extent. 

Mr. Longworth's wine cellars were excavated on Observatory 
Hill, on the E. Sixth street side ; there were two tiers of massive 
stone vaults, ninety by one hundred and twenty-five feet, capable 
of holding three hundred thousand bottles. Above this great 
wine reservoir, on the summit of a hill, was erected an observa- 
tory, for which object Mr. Longworth had given four acres of land. 
Probably no individual ever did as much to advance the material 
interests as he. He was an eccentric person — utterly careless in 
his dress and appearance, so much so as to be a cause of vexation 
to his family — sometimes going about in precisely the same kind of a 
conspicuous but cheap coat such as his coachman wore. He was lib- 
eral in his own way, and willing to help those who would help 
themselves, and in disposing of his city lots always made his sales 
on such terms as would enable a thrifty man to become owner of 
his house with a few years steady industry. He also took 
some pride in giving — but not too often — to those whom he called 
"the devil's poor" — the shiftless creatures whom nobody else 
would help; he built for his own summer residence a beautiful 
mansion in the midst of his vineyard, overlooking the river ; he 
had a fine library, and collected many works of art which he treas- 
ured highly. He died on the ioth of February, 1863, the reputed 
possessor of over $15,000,000. 



PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 

Fifty years of struggle, toil, adventure, and audacity, twenty of 
comparative rest and enjoyment, would briefly sum up the seventy 
years of the millionaire showman's life ; not that enjoyment was 
excluded from even the most laborious and uncertain portion of 
this curious career, for Mr. Barnum seemed able to amuse himself 
with the same facility that he did others, under every variety of 
circumstance, favorable or unfavorable. Very early in life he dis- 
covered that the world was " his oyster," which could be opened 
for his benefit, if attacked with sufficient skill and determination ; 
commencing almost as soon as he could talk to accumulate pen- 
nies, he has not yet ceased to add to his millions of dollars. 

P. T. Barnum very nearly escaped being ushered into this 
breathing world on the anniversary of American Independence, 
being born at Bethel, Connecticut, on the 5th of July, 18 10. Had 
the momentous event occurred twenty-four hours earlier, those 
who know the " greatest showman on earth " can imagine what a 
theme for self-gratulation this start in life would have been to him ; 
and how the classic " bird of freedom " would have been made to 
shriek aloud in his honor on every recurring 4th of July. But a 
good Providence spared us this last drop, knowing well that no 
extra inflation was needed to keep this buoyant spirit afloat, soar- 
ing over difficulties and disasters, a very slight fraction of which 
would have overwhelmed most men at some point in the course 
of a career beset with such a variety of obstacles which he bravely 
overcame. 

It is astonishing to learn, in the case not only of Mr. Barnum, 
but in others of our wealthy men, how many kinds of business they 
tried, and how many partial or total failures they made, before hit- 
(494) 



£ : 



, 



mm 

I 




P. T. BARNUM. 



PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 495 

ting upon the line of business in which they were enabled to make 
the large fortunes eventually acquired ; indeed, this is rather the 
rule, and Mr. Barnum was no exception to it. As a boy on his 
father's farm, he appears to have been able to induce his parent 
to pay him something for his work ; he got ten cents a day for 
riding the horse which led the ploughing oxen ; and this, with 
other small acquisitions, he saved until some occasion when he 
could put it to profitable use. This was principally on holidays — 
" training-day," and Fourth of July, being the principal ; he then 
prepared himself with home-made gingerbread, cookies, and 
cherry rum, which he sold to the hungry and thirsty improvident, 
so that instead of spending his own money, he found himself richer 
by a dollar or two at the end of every festival. At the age of 
twelve he owned a sheep and a calf, but as from this time forward 
he was obliged to buy his own clothes, there was not much oppor- 
tunity for either hoarding or speculation. About this time, 1822, 
he made his first trip to New York, assisting a neighbor in driv- 
ing cattle, starting in the midst of a heavy snow-storm in January. 

In 1825, when Phineas was about fifteen, his father died, leaving 
his widow with five children, the subject of this sketch being the 
eldest. The mother was, however, a very able and energetic 
woman, and not only supported herself and family in comfort, by 
keeping a house of entertainment for travellers, but acquired some 
property, so that Barnum's youth was not clogged by the responsi- 
bility of caring for them financially. Neither apparently did he 
receive anything from his father's estate, which was heavily mort- 
gaged, but which the widow finally redeemed. After a short time 
the clerking with Mr. Weed was broken off, and the future million- 
aire went to a small place called Grassy Plain, near Bethel, and 
engaged in the same capacity with another firm for $6 a month 
and his board. 

In 1829, when a little over nineteen, he was married to Miss 
Taylor, of Brooklyn, a daughter of his former employer. In the 
winter of 1833-4 we find the coming hero in a new role — located 



49^ PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 

with his family in New York, and looking in the Sun for "wants." 
It was at this time he met Mr. Niblo, who afterwards became his 
firm friend. He offered Mr. Barnum the position of bartender, 
with an engagement for three years, but the latter did not wish to 
bind himself for that length of time. Not finding any satisfactory 
employment, he opened a. boarding-house at 52 Frankfort street, 
where he was well patronized by his Connecticut friends. He 
also bought an interest in a grocery store at 156 South street. 

It would seem that his various changes of occupation must have 
afforded Mr. Barnum sufficient data upon which he could base an 
opinion as to what he was best fitted to succeed in. By the time 
he was twenty-four years of age he had already been in twelve 
different occupations, but he had not yet found his true vocation; 
it was soon to come. In the summer of 1835, Mr. Coly Bartram, 
of Readino-, Connecticut, told Mr. Barnum that he owned an in- 
terest in a remarkable negress, whom he believed to be 160 years 
old, who was then being exhibited in Philadelphia. She claimed 
to have been the nurse of George Washington, and for proof of 
her age a bill of sale was exhibited dated February 5th, 1727, 
from Augustine Washington to Elizabeth Attwood, his half-sister, 
in which "one negro woman, Joice Heth," was described as fifty- 
four years of age. Mr. Barnum determined to possess himself of 
this living curiosity. He had but $500 in cash ; he borrowed $500 
more, sold out his interest in the grocery store, and started for 
Philadelphia. The proprietor at first asked $3,000 for the old 
negress, but finally took $1,000, and Phineas T. Barnum com- 
menced his career as showman — the vocation to which he was 
evidently born. Bringing her to New York, and then passing to 
other cities, a very profitable tour was made. But the poor old 
creature finally died of old age on his hands some seven months 
later, and was given a respectable burial in her owner's native 
town of Bethel. 

From this time forward Mr. Barnum has scarcely ever been 
entirely out of the show business. From 1836 until 1841 he was 



PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 497 

mainly engaged with conducting travelling companies, vibrating 
between New York, Chicago, and New Orleans, taking on the 
route such towns and cities as were likely to prove profitable. 

The famous " Barnum's American Museum " was opened in 
1850, after many ups and downs in business, and Mr. Barnum's 
fortune was thus made. It was not long before the museum had 
to be enlarged, a lecture-room was added, which was soon adapted 
for a theatre, where " moral dramas only " found a place. The 
" Drummond light," the precursor of the electric, which first shed 
its brilliancy on Broadway, was from the facade of the old " Bar- 
num's Museum" which stood on the present site of the Herald 
office. No money, no amount of time or trouble was spared to 
make the museum worth a visit by all classes of persons. There 
was often something to attract the student of natural history and 
even the scientific professor, and always abundant material to 
satisfy the lovers of the curious, or those in search of amusement 
only. 

The two best paying cards which Mr. Barnum ever had to play 
were the Jenny Lind concerts and the lately deceased dwarf 
("Tom Thumb"), Charles S. Stratton. The profit derived from 
the exhibition of the " little General " in this country and Europe 
has never been divulged, but it must have been enormous ; at least 
three considerable fortunes were made out of it — Mr. Stratton, 
Sr., the General himself, and Mr. Barnum, each having accumu- 
lated more than they ever cared to tell from this source, between 
1842 and 1863. 

The total receipts of the ninety-five "Jenny Lind concerts," 
given under Mr. Barnum's management, was $7 12,161.34, of 
which he received $535,486.25, more than half a million dollars, 
net, between September, 1850, and the following June. When 
Mr. Barnum signed the agreement with Jenny Lind, through an 
agent in England, he had never heard her sing or even seen her; 
the enterprise was an entire novelty at that time, and, considering 
the amount of money risked, was certainly one of the most auda- 
3 2 



498 PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 

cious projects ever attempted. He used to say himself that he 
trusted entirely to her reputation as to her vocal powers, and to 
her character for benevolence to win the sympathy of the Ameri- 
can people ; the rest was all effected by reiterated " puffing." 

It was during the first years of his contract with little "Tom 
Thumb " that Mr. Barnum erected at Fairfield, near Bridgeport, 
Connecticut, the famous residence known as Iranistan. It was 
situated on seventeen acres of land fronting on Long Island Sound, 
and its peculiar construction — a square centre with two wings, 
surmounted by Turkish domes and pinnacles — attracted great at- 
tention. It was occupied by the family in the fall of 1848, and 
with certain intervals of absence as a summer residence until it 
was destroyed by fire, in December, 1857. It was at this place 
that an elephant was occasionally seen ploughing by the aston- 
ished travellers on the New York & New Haven Railroad. Of 
course this was only a huge advertisement for the proprietor of 
the American Museum. Iranistan had cost $150,000; little was 
saved, and the ground with the minor buildings upon it was sold 
to the late Elias Howe, Jr., " sewing-machine needle " inventor, for 
$50,000. 

It would be impossible to narrate, in less space than an entire 
volume, the great number of enterprises undertaken by Mr. Bar- 
num in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and other cities ; or the 
details of his several trips abroad, and his long residence in Eng- 
land ; or of his lecture tours at home and in England. But the 
two pet objects of his life may be fairly designated as the ambi- 
tion to provide the very best museum and public shows, and next 
to that was his desire to improve and beautify the city of Bridge- 
port, Connecticut. He had been going on prosperously for so 
many years that when, in 1856, it was blazoned abroad that " Bar- 
num had failed, swamped by the Jerome Clock Company," it took 
the community by surprise, but probably the most astonished per- 
son in the United States was P. T. Barnum. The history of his 
entanglement with the clock company can only be explained by 



PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 499 

his infatuation for speedily building up East Bridgeport. He had 
made very large and hazardous speculations in land, chiefly on the 
east side of Pequonnock river, and his desire to attract capital and 
to establish manufactories on the site, led him to lend a willing ear 
to the plausible statements of Mr. Chauncey Jerome, President of 
the clock company, for which there seemed too little foundation to 
delude so shrewd a man as Mr. Barnum. But the idea of getting 
the concern located in East Bridgeport appeared for the moment 
to have eclipsed his judgment, and he became involved in liabili- 
ties, as he avers, through misstatements, which ended at the time 
in his financial ruin, absolutely absorbing all his fortune. He had 
years before settled a handsome property on his wife, but, with 
great nobleness of spirit, she sacrificed a great portion of this in 
helping to pay off the indebtedness for which her husband was 
liable. 

At the time when this disaster occurred Mr. Barnum was ap- 
proaching his fiftieth year, but, instead of allowing himself to be 
crushed, he resolutely set himself to pay the enormous weight of 
debt resting upon him ; his family voluntarily gave up their expen- 
sive style of living and sought economical quarters. His young- 
est daughter even proposed to leave school and give music les- 
sons. Mr. Barnum re-engaged the " little general •• and went with 
him once more to Europe, part of the time intrusting "Tom 
Thumb " to an agent, while he utilized his time in delivering his 
famous lecture on " The Art of Money-Getting" through the princi- 
pal towns and cities of England. Both ventures proved very success- 
ful, but all the surplus was devoted to taking up his notes payable to 
the creditors of the clock company. At last, after four years of un- 
remitting toil abroad and at home, he succeeded in extinguishing this 
incubus of debt, and, on the 17th of March, i860, he bought back 
from Messrs. Butler and Greenwood the American Museum, which 
he had sold to them in the zenith of his prosperity some years be- 
fore. " Richard was himself again ; " embarked once more, as he 
said, on " the good old ship American Museum." To others the 



500 PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 

voyage did not look promising ; the civil war broke out in a few 
weeks, and all interests seemed centred on public events, but the 
extraordinary enterprise and energy which the old showman in- 
fused into the management of his favorite establishment really al- 
most compelled patronage, and very soon the proprietor was in 
the full tide of success. 

With the proceeds of his re-established business Mr. Barnum 
now built a new home in Bridgeport, very near the old site of Ira- 
nistan, which he called Lindencroft. East Bridgeport, too, took a 
renewed lease of life ; factories sprang up, the Wheeler & Wilson 
Sewing-Machine Company took the site of the deceased clock 
company, and the land still remaining to Mr. Barnum rose propor- 
tionately in value. The land he had bought in 1851 was assessed 
at the value of $36,000; in 1859 it was worth over $1,200,000. 

On the 13th of July, 1865, the American Museum was destroyed 
by fire. With its contents, this building was valued at $400,000 ; 
the small amount of $40,000 was all the insurance there was upon 
it. Horace Greeley advised Mr. Barnum to take this destruction 
of the museum " as a notice to quit," and suggested he should re- 
tire from active business and " go a-fishing." But Mr. Barnum 
loved the excitement of work too well to heed such advice — which 
the giver would certainly not have taken himself at the age of 
fifty-five, however rich he might have been. Four months later 
three adjoining buildings on Broadway — Nos. 535-7-9- — known as 
the Chinese Museum, were bought out ; other smaller collections 
added, and in November the building was opened by Mr. Barnum 
as the New American Museum, the site being far nearer to the 
centre of population than the old one. The sale of the original 
site introduces us to a curious passage of arms between the 
" showman " and the " editor." 

In.1851 Mr. Barnum had taken a lease of the old museum 
property, for twenty-five years, at $10,000 per annum, with a 
clause by which the lessor agreed that in case of fire he would pay 
$24,000 toward rebuilding the edifice, and at the end of the lease 



PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 5OI 

would take it at a price not to exceed $100,000. But real estate 
in New York, at least in that neighborhood, has trebled in value 
since this agreement was made ; an expert in real estate values 
decided that the balance of the lease was worth at least $275,000. 
The elder James Gordon Bennett desired to erect his newspaper- 
office on the site, and Mr. Barnum offered it to him for the very- 
reasonable sum of $200,000. This offer was accepted, and the 
money paid; but Mr. Bennett, wishing to own the ground in fee, 
agreed to pay the owner $400,000 for that. Very soon Bennett 
learned that the price was most exorbitant, considering the fact 
that it was burdened with an expensive lease. Chagrined at 
being thus taken in, the editor of the Herald first tried to get rid 
of his bargain with the owner of the land, and then sent a lawyer 
to Mr. Barnum to try and induce him to give back the $200,000 
he had received for the lease ! Of course, he would do nothing 
of the kind. The attorney returned to his employer with the re- 
fusal, and the very next morning all Mr. Barnum's advertisements 
were eliminated from the columns of the Herald. Mr. Barnum 
understood that this meant war; he went to the Herald office, 
and tendered payment for further advertisements; the tender was 
formally declined by the " managing editor " under orders, and 
Mr. Barnum left baffled, but not defeated. There was then in 
New York a " Managers' Association," composed of all those per- 
sons engaged in either theatrical or other shows of any importance, 
to which of course Mr. Barnum belonged. He at once proceeded 
to notify the secretary of the conduct of the Herald. A meeting 
of the association was called and a committee appointed to wait 
upon Mr. Bennett and get his ultimatum. This committee con- 
sisted of Messrs. Wallack, Wheatley and Stuart. Failing to get a 
promise from Bennett that he would print Mr. Barnum's advertise- 
ments, the managers' association voted to withdraw all patronage 
from the Herald, and from that time forward, for the space of 
about two years, all these managers headed their advertisements 
in the other papers thus, " This establishment does not advertise 



502 PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 

in the New York Herald" a course which affected the sale of that 
paper very unfavorably, as a large proportion of city readers have 
no use for a paper which does not contain a full "amusement" 
column of advertisements. Finally the matter was compromised 
by the managers' association returning their notices to the Herald 
on condition that Barnum's was also admitted. This war of the 
editor vs. the showmen terminated in the fall of 1868. Meanwhile 
the New Museum had been a continuous success, Mr. Barnum 
having found plenty of modes of advertising without the aid of the 
Herald. 

Fire was again the element destined to change the course of 
Mr. Barnum's operations. On the 3d of March, 1868, the New 
Museum was burned to the ground; and so sudden and complete 
was the destruction, that the employes in the building barely 
escaped with their lives. Nothing was saved of the contents, and 
many living animals perished in the flames. There had been 
$78,000 expended on the building in addition to its original cost, 
$460,000, and there was an insurance of $160,000. Mr. Barnum 
decided not to rebuild, and some months subsequently sold the 
lots for $432,000. Thus by three fires, Iranistan, and the two 
museums, he lost about $1,000,000, and at last concluded to retire 
from business in New York, and devote the future to the develop- 
ment of his Connecticut home — East Bridgeport. In this matter 
he had as a zealous colleague his friend, Mr. Noble. Together 
they presented to the city, years before, the lands now known as 
Washington Park. Projects of this nature had floated through 
Mr. Barnum's brain since 1850, but the conservative nature of the 
Connecticut farmer effectually baffled the completion of the enter- 
prise for many years, and no improvements of consequence were 
made by the municipality. But, in 1865, the interest of a few 
other gentlemen was enlisted in the effort to redeem a strip of 
land on the shore of Long Island Sound excellently adapted for 
park purposes. One obstinate farmer held out against the im- 
provement for a long time, and at last Mr. Barnum bought the 



PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. S°3 

whole farm of him for $12,000, and was thus enabled to present 
this noble water-front to the city. The improved section is now 
known as Seaside Park. In July, 1869, an additional gift of land 
worth $5,000 was made. 

While thus providing for the public, a change was made in the 
domestic arrangement of the generous donor. In the summer of 
1867 Lindencroft was sold, and in^ 1868-9 a new residence built, 
which was named " Waldemeir," the elegant structure now occu- 
pied by the veteran showman and his second wife. On this large 
and beautiful estate are two other residences, expressly built for 
two married daughters, and named respectively " Petrel's Nest " 
and "Wavewood." Here Mr. Barnum usually spends five months 
of the year, devoting seven to his city residence, but it has been 
impossible for him to adopt an idle life, and directly or indirectly 
he is still constantly connected with some form of public entertain- 
ment. 

To hundreds of thousands of people P. T. Barnum is known 
only as the proprietor of a museum, and the head figure in the 
" greatest show on earth," but there are several other sides of his 
character which, though known to many, have made no impression 
on the general public. As Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes said of him- 
self, "That his reputation as a wit had disqualified most persons 
from believing that he was anything more or better," so with 
Mr. Barnum ; his public career as a showman has disqualified the 
general public from according him any other special characteristics. 
The biographer, however, must remedy this injustice, and if to the 
ultra-refined the professional showman is, and ever must be, utterly 
distasteful, yet justice requires that the qualities of the private 
citizen should not be altogether swamped by this sort of prejudice. 
In several points of view, aside from his money-earning, Mr. Bar- 
num's career is eminently praiseworthy. In the first place, if 
sharp, he is honest, and at the sacrifice of great personal comfort, 
never rested until all his debts were paid to the full. During the 
latter half of his life he was not only strictly temperate, but an 



504 PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 

eloquent advocate of temperance principles ; in his American Mu- 
seum he was the first to banish from his theatrical entertainments 
that obnoxious adjunct formerly so common — the "bar; " and then 
he abolished the " check " system, which facilitates going out to 
drink between acts. The "third tier," known to old New Yorkers 
as the very worst feature ever tolerated at dramatic representa- 
tions, never found any place under his management. Nor were 
any representations ever given at the museum to which exception 
could be taken on moral grounds. When the war broke out, be- 
ing then fifty years of age, he considered himself too old to enter 
the ranks, but he procured and paid for four substitutes; gave 
largely to the Sanitary Commission, and in connection with his 
friend, the late Elias Howe, Jr., early in the summer of i860, broke 
up a disloyal " peace meeting " (called to convene in a neighbor- 
ing town in Connecticut) so effectually that its promoters were no 
more heard of. In 1867 he was nominated for Congress, for the 
Fourth District in Connecticut, but there had come a reaction in 
national politics, and a tidal wave carried in the opposing candi- 
date. Mr. Barnum was at heart always a Democrat, and acted 
with that party until the outbreak of the war, when he changed 
for a period his political affiliations and acted with the Repub- 
licans. 

During the campaign of 1867, being solicited for money to be 
used, as he considered, for a corruption fund, he wrote to the ap- 
plicant under date of February 23d, 1867: "Under no conceiva- 
ble circumstances will I permit a dollar of mine to be used to 
purchase a vote, or to induce a voter to act contrary to his honest 
convictions. God grant that I may be a thousand times defeated 
sooner than permit one grain of gold to be accursed by using it so 
basely ! Any party that can gain a temporary ascendency by such 
atrocious means, not only poisons the body politic of a free and 
impartial government, but is also sure to bring swift destruction 
upon itself," with much more to the same purport. He explained 
that he was willing to give money for legitimate purposes: for 



PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 505 

hiring halls, music, printing, anything to " enlighten the citizens as 
to their duty, but for no other purpose whatever." In his family 
relations Mr. Barnum always kept the welfare of wife and chil- 
dren pre-eminent; he had no son, but four daughters, three of 
whom are living, and all married. It is freely admitted that in his 
professional career the " showman " was not always scrupulous, 
either as to the genuineness of his exhibits or his mode of attract- 
ing attention to them ; but his sins in this respect were venial, and 
though sometimes in questionable taste, yet in the sum total of 
his efforts to amuse and instruct the people, these flaws were in- 
significant as compared with the vast amount of gratification and 
real knowledge of the productions of other climes which he diffused 
among the people. A year or two ago, when severely ill, Mr. 
Barnum availed himself of the circumstance to write to the few 
people in Bridgeport and other places, with whom he had any 
misunderstanding, making such admissions as were necessary for 
himself, and offering to overlook any supposed injury on the part 
of his correspondent. He was very speedily gratified by con- 
ciliating responses from all whom he had addressed. 

About a year ago Mr. Barnum presented to his native place, 
the town of Bethel, a beautiful bronze fountain, which was cast for 
him in Germany at a cost of $10,000; it is fifteen feet in height, 
and was originally intended for the park in Bridgeport, but the 
parsimony of the municipal authorities objecting to supply water 
for it induced Mr. Barnum to send it to Bethel. The day of its 
formal presentation was quite a gala-time with the inhabitants. 
The Fourth Regiment of the Connecticut National Guards turned 
out, the fire department, bands of music, with a vast concourse of 
citizens in carriages and on foot ; the unveiling was preceded by 
singing and speeches, of which that of the donor was perhaps the 
most remarkable, consisting largely of reminiscences of his own 
youthful life in Bethel, and the customs then prevailing. 

Mr. Barnum's property is estimated at $3,000,000, but there is 
no telling what he may yet add to it, as at the present time he is 



506 PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM. 

in partnership with Bailey & Hutchinson, of the " Great London 
Show," which, though the expenses are enormous, yields to the 
three partners splendid profits. The cost of a travelling menage- 
rie and circus is given by this grand expert in such affairs as from 
$3,000 to $5,000 per day, when conducted on the enormous scale 
of his later combinations ; the advertising he reckons at about 
$200,000 per annum. At the exhibition for 1882, at Gilmore's 
Garden, in New York, which lasted seven weeks, the combination 
paid Mr. Vanderbilt $27,000 for rent. 

In Bridgeport Mr. Barnum is regarded almost as the father of 
all its modern development; he has been mayor of the city, among 
other honors bestowed upon him by a grateful people ; he is the 
largest landowner in the place, and is part owner of the leading 
newspaper. There are few people, perhaps none, who have ever 
afforded as much innocent amusement to as large a number of 
persons as P. T. Barnum. " May he live long and still prosper." 



D. O. MILLS. 

Charles Astor Bristed, the gentleman Bohemian, used to say 
that " Washington was the only place in America where the people 
did not run after lions ; that they did in New York, because they 
were scarce, but in Washington they were too common." He 
might change his opinion now, for New York is fast becoming the 
centre to which gravitate at least one species of the royal animals 
— the social lions of to-day are the great millionaires, the " rail- 
road " and " bonanza " kings, and New York is the only city where 
they can reign triumphant in virtue of their wealth alone. Other 
cities demand other qualities, but money dominates the commer- 
cial metropolis. These remarks, be it understood, are general 
and do not apply to the subject of this sketch. Quite recently 
some half dozen of the " diamond peerage " have settled or made 
arrangements for residing in New York, and among those already 
located on Fifth avenue is the gentleman whose name heads this 
chapter, and almost the first knowledge which the community had 
of his presence was the erection of an enormous building intended 
for office purposes on Broad street near Wall, opposite the Stock 
Exchange. Mr. Mills is a native of the State of New York, his 
birth-place being in the vicinity of Newberg, on the Hudson ; his 
family were of good stock and in comfortable circumstances, and 
their son was named for a prominent politician formerly well 
known in the metropolis, the Hon. Darius Ogden. Young Darius 
received a fair education, and after some experiments in other 
directions, while striving to ascertain in which direction success 
was to be found, he went, when quite a young man, to Buffalo, 
and there organized a bank under the old New York State Safety 
Fund system ; this was carried on successfully for a few years, 

(507) 



5©8 D. O. MILLS. 

when the California gold fever broke out. Almost immediately, 
in 1849, Mr. Mills sold out his interest in the Buffalo Bank, came 
to New York, and with the proceeds of the sale purchased a 
large quantity of assorted merchandise and sailed with it direct to 
Sacramento City, from whence, by the. natural force of attraction, 
he eventually gravitated to San Francisco, where he continued as 
one of the leading merchants for some time ; but apparently born 
to the career of finance, he shook himself clear of the uncertain- 
ties of commercial life and engaged in the more congenial business 
of banking ; in this pursuit he had already accumulated a con- 
siderable fortune, and was contemplating retiring, when the Bank 
of California was organized and he was strongly urged to accept 
the Presidency. He was known in San Francisco to be one of 
the best financiers in the city — honest and cautious, without 
being narrow in his views, and eminently a person to be safely 
trusted with the monetary affairs of others. Such a position as 
this was really his proper role, and while the bank was under his 
management it prospered greatly, regularly paying dividends of 
one and one-half per cent, monthly, besides accumulating a surplus 
of $5,000,000. 

His successor in the presidency was William C. Ralston, whose 
widely spread and sometimes rash speculations precipitated its 
downfall. (See sketches of William C. Ralston and J. Flood.) At 
the time of the failure of the bank several of the California 
papers, after getting over the first feeling of dismay and fright 
which the event caused, and intensely sympathizing with Mr. 
Ralston, mourning his untimely fate, attacked Mr. Mills as having 
by his harshness contributed to that catastrophe. There was more 
sympathetic emotion than justice in this course, for D. O. Mills' 
action throughout had been thoroughly honorable, and certainly in 
the interests of the stockholders ; it had fallen to his lot to convey 
the request of the meeting to Mr. Ralston that he should resign 
his office, and we think that no resident of San Francisco in 1875 
will deny that Mr. D. O. Mills must, in addition to strict business 



D. O. MILLS. 509 

principles, have, possessed nerves of steel to present this vote of 
the meeting to the already overwhelmed President of the Bank of 
California : this written request, indorsed as it was by the opinion 
of the ex-president " that it was necessary," was equivalent to the 
death-warrant of the generous-hearted Ralston, and such indeed it 
proved. No one can affirm that Mr. Mills was not justified in his 
opinion ; but there were few men, if any, in that city who could 
have executed the ungrateful task with the calm serenity of Darius 
Ogden Mills. 

The average Californian was very fond of drawing contrasts 
between the genial, open-handed, often extravagant Ralston and 
the perfectly proper, calm, and dignified Mr. Mills ; but the latter 
can also be genial and generous in directions which suit him, if not 
to every passer-by. While still residing in California his niece, 
Miss Easton, was married to Mr. C. F. Crocker, then second Vice- 
President of the Southern Pacific Railroad. To grace the cere- 
mony, which took place at his elegant country villa at Millbrae, a 
very large number of guests were invited — a special train of five 
drawing-room cars conveying the company from San Francisco. 
Mr. Mills' wedding-gift to the bride was an elegant country resi- 
dence situated in Menlo, a few miles from the city. Neither have 
his gifts been limited to his relatives or intimate friends ; he has 
already commenced to distribute a portion of his large fortune. 
He has established a seminary for young ladies near San Fran- 
cisco at a cost of $200,000. This is for the benefit of young 
women on the Pacific coast : the funds being intrusted to a self- 
perpetuating board of trustees. He has also given $75,000 to the 
University of California to endow a chair of Intellectual and 
Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity. He has shown himself to be 
a liberal patron of art, and a late item of interest relating to him 
and illustrating this, as well as his affectionate regard for the State 
where he laid the foundation of his large fortune, is his recent 
presentation to the State of California of a magnificent piece of 
statuary representing Columbus at the Court of Isabella. This 



5IO D. O. MILLS. 

memorial is nine feet in height and cost $35,000: it is to adorn the 
rotunda of the capitol at Sacramento, being placed in position at 
the donor's expense. He is also one of twelve subscribers to 
the beautiful bronze called the "Still Hunt:" the principal figure 
of this artistic composition of the well-known artist, Ed. Kemey, 
is a crouching panther. This fine work of art has recently been 
placed in Central Park. 

Mr. Mills has come to be considered a potential factor in Wall 
street, and had the same publicity been given to the fact that he 
was one of the financial pillars of the New York Tribune, as was 
given to Jay Gould's connection with the newspaper press, perhaps 
the alarm would be proportionate to the supposed danger of " doc- 
tored " financial news ; but when in July last (1883) ne g a ve orders 
for the sale of all his Northern Pacific and Erie, though the street 
was full of prophecies of evil, neither panic nor earthquake en- 
sued. Mr. Mills' orifice is in the " Mills Building" on Broad street, 
which has an entrance also on Wall street. This immense struc- 
ture is ten stories high and contains three hundred offices, besides 
an extensive restaurant for the accommodation of the occupants on 
the top floor. Some half dozen elevators are in constant use in 
this elegant and capacious building. It is finished outside and 
within in the most approved style of modern art as applied to 
business purposes ; marble stairs and corridors, walls and stair- 
cases, with panels of variegated and highly polished marbles ; here 
encaustic tiles relieve the eye, fine-hammered granite bases assure 
the visitor of its solidity, the finest French plate glass and the 
choicest woods give variety and finish to the interiors. The main 
entrance, fit in itself for a royal palace, with its spacious vestibule, 
is enclosed after business hours with an elaborate open-work 
bronze gate, a work of art worthy of careful inspection. From 
the upper stories of this building a most extensive and beautiful 
panorama of the city, the bay, the East and North rivers, is spread 
out before the eye of the observer. On the occasion of the open- 
ing ceremonies of the East River bridge six hundred invitations 



D. O. MILLS. 511 

were issued inviting persons to view the proceedings from the 
" Mills Building," and fully that number were present — some thirty 
dinner-parties also finding accommodation there on that occasion. 
Mr. Mills' New York residence is on Fifth avenue, and has the 
peculiar merit of looking particularly home-like. The most ele- 
gant and delicate articles, as well as the furniture, have the air of 
being in use, and not simply arranged for show. If this is art it is 
the very perfection of it. The grand saloon has a more cheerful 
and brilliant appearance than many of the modern interiors : in- 
stead of being persuaded into the iise of " bricky reds" and "yel- 
lowy greens," now so prevalent, the owner has not been afraid to 
express his own taste, and this beautiful reception-room shines re- 
splendent in white and gold, in the style of Napoleon I., far more 
enlivening in its general impression on guests than the dingy imi- 
tations of the " early English." The ceiling of the main saloon is 
beautifully frescoed with a profuse representation of spring flow- 
ers. Mr. Whitelaw Reid, the editor of the New York Tribune, and 
successor of Horace Greeley, is married to a daughter of this 
financier. Mr. Mills' present fortune is estimated at about $12,- 
000,000; but what it may be a short time hence it would not be 
safe to predict. 



DANIEL DREW. 

The " cattle king " of a generation ago was Daniel Drew, but 
since his day the business of the drover and cattle-raising has 
assumed proportions never dreamed of by this pioneer. Texas, 
the great source of supply, was', in his early life, a part of Mexico, 
and his "West" was the other side of the Alleghenies. Mr. 
Drew was a native of the State of New York, being born in Car- 
mel, Putnam county, on the 29th of July, 1797. Like many of the 
successful operators in Wall street, Mr. Drew's early life was 
spent on a farm, and his hands were hardened with all the toil in- 
cident to that sort of life. His father not being particularly pros- 
perous, Daniel was early initiated into the various labors of agri- 
cultural life, and as his services were constantly needed, but little 
time was allowed for schooling: a few winter sessions included all 
that he ever enjoyed. When only fifteen years old his father died, 
leaving his wife and family with very inadequate means of support, 
his own labor being withdrawn, and his eldest son such a mere 
lad. But the boy was faithful to the interests of the family so far 
as he knew how to be ; he remained at home the three following 
years, performing the old drudgery. Then, as some of the 
younger children had become helpers, he thought he could do 
better at something else, and decided to come to New York city 
and try his fortunes there. But the period (1807) was inauspicious, 
the times were very bad, business was almost at a standstill ; he 
could not get an engagement in any such business as he desired, 
and he had temporarily to return to Carmel, for his scanty funds 
did not admit of his remaining in the city unemployed. His trip, 
however, had not been fruitless; he had stopped at a tavern where 
many farmers and drovers halted, in the suburbs of the city ; he 
(5 * 



DANIEL DREW. 5 I 3 

used his eyes and ears, and soon learned that a great many beef 
cattle were needed for the New York market, and he learned that 
in Putnam county, not far from his home, such cattle could be pro- 
cured, at a price which would afford a good profit if he only had 
the capital to invest in them. Lacking that, he concluded to 
collect a drove and sell them on commission for others. But the 
farmers were limited in money matters ; there was not much 
money in that way of doing business. However, he saved what 
he could, and now and then bought an animal, fattened it up on 
the old farm, and adding it to his next drove, was able to make 
something extra. By degrees he was able to buy more, and in a 
few years brought his own stock to market. It was better than 
farming, but he did not see a fortune in it. Cattle would inoppor- 
tunely die, the market price varied, accidents happened, and 
Daniel Drew had concluded he could do better. 

At this time there was in New York, not far from the junction 
of the Bowery and Third avenue, a famous gathering-place of 
farmers, drovers, butchers, and market-men, known as the " Bull's 
Head." Here Mr. Drew established a tavern, which became a 
famous place in his day and for long after he abandoned it. This 
might be called the real starting-point of his subsequent prosperity. 
After locating here, he entered into partnership with two other 
drovers, they taking the practical part of the work, and he furnish- 
ing most of the original capital, to buy cattle in the adjoining 
counties for the New York market. The business grew and pros- 
pered ; the purchasing circle was extended first to Western New 
York, then to Pennsylvania, and finally to the then distant plains 
of Ohio. This firm of Drew & Co. were the first drovers who ever 
brought the cattle from the West to New York. The first drove 
to cross the Allegheny mountains was a herd of 2,000 ; they were 
divided into twenty droves, and the most careful and experienced 
men that could be found were employed to drive them. Our 
reader may judge of the vast changes which have taken place in 
the business since that period when we state that it took this 
33 



5 I 4 DANIEL DREW. 

pioneer drove eight weeks to perform the journey, which is now 
made in two or three days. The cost of the trip was $24 per head, 
but the animals were in good condition and brought excellent 
prices. Mr. Drew remained in this business some fourteen years ; 
it was very profitable, and he was already a capitalist, looking out 
for a different class of investments. In 1834 there was running 
on the Hudson river a steamer called the " General Jackson," 
which exploded at Grassy Point. This vessel was owned by Jacob 
Vanderbilt (brother of late " Commodore "), the same person who 
owned the " Westfield " of the Staten Island line, which exploded 
at her dock near the battery in New York. The " General Jack- 
son " was running between Peekskill and the metropolis. Jacob 
Vanderbilt had no steamer ready to put on in its place, and a 
friend of Mr. Drew's immediately placed the " Water Witch " on 
the river. Into this boat Daniel Drew put $1,000, his first invest- 
ment in North River steamers. As soon as possible Vanderbilt 
substituted the " Cinderella " for his lost steamer, and ran oppo- 
sition to the "Water Witch," putting down his rates to mere 
nominal figures, so that people used to say jocosely, that "it was 
cheaper to go sailing up the Hudson than to stay at home." The 
"Water Witch" of course had to put down her rates for passen- 
gers and freight, so that neither boats were making anything, each 
trying to see if they could drive the other off. At the end of the 
season the "Water Witch" was in debt $16,000, but was for- 
tunately sold for $20,000. 

In the meanwhile Vanderbilt tried negotiations, persuasion, 
threats and intimidation to prevent Drew and his friends from re- 
suming the traffic ; but in this he did not succeed, for in the spring 
of 1836 they replaced the "Water Witch " by a far superior boat — 
the "Westchester." This boat extended its trips to Albany, and ran 
opposition to the old Hudson river line, which owned several fine 
steamers; among others the "De Witt Clinton," "North America," 
etc. These latter were among the finest river steamers then afloat, 
and the company felt quite secure in preserving their prestige on 



DANIEL DREW. 515 

the Hudson. But Drew was a hard man to beat ; he did not flinch 
from the struggle. He was also a man of resources and bright 
ideas. Drew & Co. bought, at an expense of $26,000, the "Bright 
Emerald," and ran her as a night boat, reducing the fare from three 
dollars to one, and affording business men a chance to get to or 
from Albany to New York, and vice vej'sa, without the loss of 
business hours. This was an innovation which immediately met 
with general acceptance ; and so popular did these boats become 
that the same season Drew was enabled to buy another steamer, 
called the " Rochester," for which he paid $50,000, and, so far was he 
from yielding to the opposing party, that he shortly after bought 
out the Hudson river line, the owners of which had become tired 
of the contest, and he then raised the passenger-fare again to 
three dollars ; a very safe proceeding, since there was no longer a 
competitor on the river. 

At this period Mr. Isaac Newton was extensively engaged in 
the towing business on the North river. The canal boats from 
the Erie canal, which needed guiding down the Hudson, have been 
a source of steady occupation in themselves, while sloop and 
schooners "waiting for a wind," and failing to obtain it, have 
helped to make the business of towing very profitable. It proved 
so to Mr. Newton, and in 1838—39 he had built and put upon the 
Hudson two fine steamers as passenger boats. Mr. Drew, having 
conquered the Vanderbilt opposition at considerable cost to him- 
self, was disposed to try pacific means with this new rival, and so 
adroitly did he manage matters that in 1840 he induced Mr. New- 
ton to enter into a partnership arrangement, forming what was 
afterwards known as the " People's Line " of steamers. There 
were others in this combination, among them P. T. Barnum, but 
Mr. Drew was the largest stockholder. Then followed in rapid 
succession a splendid fleet of boats. The first which was built by 
this company was called the "Isaac Newton," and was the first 
steamer which received the title, since become somewhat shopworn 
by the maker of newspaper paragraphs, of "Floating palace," 



5 I 6 DANIEL DREW. 

being certainly the most elegantly fitted-up boat on the inland 
waters of New York up to that time. The ''New World," the "St. 
John," the "Dean Richmond" and the "Drew" followed in succes- 
sion, each one with some new luxury not previously thought of. This 
company maintained its pre-eminence over all comers, and several 
of the boats named are still in the service. 

Seven years later Mr. Drew extended his boating interest to the 
navigation of the Sound. When the new route between New 
York and Boston, via Stonington, was projected, Mr. Drew pro- 
posed to furnish the water connection, and, in company with Mr. 
George Law, placed a line of steamers on the Sound, which will 
be still remembered by many old travellers. The first of these 
were the " Oregon " and " Knickerbocker." Commodore Vanderbilt 
and Mr. Drew both took sufficient stock in the railroad to give 
them a controlling interest in the management, and, at this time 
being quite friendly, no rival was allowed to interfere with the con- 
necting steamers on the Stonington line. When, later, the com- 
modore went heavily into Hudson River Railroad stock, he ad- 
vised Mr. Drew to abandon his steamboating on the Hudson, as 
the railroad would draw all the passenger traffic. But Mr. Drew 
viewed the situation differently. He held on to his boats, realizing 
that he could afford to convey both passengers and freight at a 
lower rate than could the road, and that there are always a vast 
number of people to whom a dollar saved is more of an object 
than time gained. He was right, as also in his conviction that 
the increase of population would soon, if not immediately, furnish 
ample traffic for both. From this time forward there was an under- 
current of rivalry, if not at first publicly manifested, between the 
commodore and Daniel Drew, which, to some extent, was felt by 
the numerous employes of both ; at least such was the interpreta- 
tion given by many who witnessed an apparent accident by which 
the steamer "Dean Richmond" was run down by the "Vanderbilt." 

Among other enterprises, Mr. Drew was engaged for about 
seven years in the Champlain Transportation Company. This 



DANIEL DREW. 5 I 7 

company was formed to run a line of steamers on Lake Cham- 
plain from Whitehall to the northern extremity at Rouse's Point ; 
five steamers were employed. The line was subsequently bought 
out by the Saratoga & Whitehall Railroad Company. For some 
years previously Mr. Drew had been engaged in the banking 
business; at first alone, afterwards (in 1840) with Mr. Robinson 
and others. The firm of Drew, Robinson & Co. was well known 
in Wall street for many years ; Mr. Drew remaining at the head 
of the concern; except for a short period in 1855, when he with- 
drew in favor of his son-in-law, Mr. Kelly; but, the latter surviv- 
ing only a short time, Mr. Drew resumed his old relations with the 
firm. In this business he had been naturally brought in close re- 
lations with the great railroad interests of the country. It was, 
therefore, almost inevitable that he should seek investments for 
his rapidly accumulating wealth in the purchase of stock ; one of 
his investments was early made in Harlem. Yet Wall street was 
rather taken by surprise when, in 1855, Daniel Drew, who had 
hitherto not figured as a "money-king," became the indorser of 
the Erie Railroad Company ! first for $500,000, and soon after for 
$1,500,000, and this at a period — 1857 — when a financial panic was 
sweeping over the country. It followed, of course, that Mr. Drew 
was elected a director of "Erie," and thereafter for years the two 
names of " Drew " and " Erie " were almost inseparable. 

Shortly after the affairs of Erie had been put upon a safe basis, 
mainly by the efforts of Mr. Drew, the company desired to extend 
its connections west, and to build a broad-gauge section of road 
for that purpose. To do this it was necessary to issue $10,000,- 
000 of stock, Mr. Drew standing sponsor for the whole amount. 
This movement was bitterly opposed and fought, inch by inch, in 
the courts by Commodore Vanderbilt, who was at that time at the 
head of the New York Central Railroad. Suffice to say here that 
"Drew" and "Erie" came out of that fight triumphant, the legis- 
lature authorizing the issue of the new stock, and from that period 
Mr. Drew's financial operations were as closely watched as any 



5 18 DANIEL DREW. 

man's in the country. Before his death he met with heavy losses 
— at one time in the course of a few days $9,000,000 slipped from 
his grasp, but he never lost his courage or surrendered a point 
which could be saved by effort. 

Mr. Drew was for many years a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. When quite a young man he was riding out with 
a friend one day, when a sudden storm arose, from which they were 
unable to find shelter ; the lightning struck the horse they were 
driving and killed it, while young Drew and his friend, though 
temporarily benumbed by the close proximity of the electric fluid, 
escaped without injury. This incident, which he regarded as a 
special interposition of Divine Providence in his favor, so worked 
upon his emotions of gratitude that he joined the church in good 
faith, and if, in subsequent years, he sometimes let worldly interests 
get the better of these early religious convictions, the time came, 
later in life, when he took up the subject more understandingly. 
In 1 841 he became a member of the Mulberry Street Methodist 
Church in New York, of which the Rev. Mr. Seney (father of 
George I. Seney) was pastor. Of this church he was a trustee for 
many years, and it was mainly through his active generosity that 
the society was enabled to build an elegant marble church on 
Fourth avenue, and remove to it from their humble quarters in 
Mulberry street. 

After Mr. Drew became wealthy he was very free with his 

money, and gave away much in private charities, but he could 

never be persuaded to give to objects, public or private, which did 

not meet his approbation. His pet beneficiaries were institutions 

of the Methodist denomination, and to these he was very liberal. 

He was a trustee of the Wesleyan University, which he endowed 

with a succession of princely gifts. Some time before his death he 

made arrangements for establishing the Drew Theological Semi- 
co 00 

nary, and also for a female institute of a high order. At the time 
he planned these good works his fortune was reckoned at $20,- 
000,000. He met with some heavy losses in the latter part of his 



DANIEL DREW. 5 I 9 

life, and some of his bequests have remained in abeyance ; but 
what he gave to the interests of Methodism in his lifetime must 
ever secure for him the grateful remembrance of his co-religionists. 
Mr. Drew survived to the age of eighty-two, his death occurring 
in September, 1879. He left two children — a son and a daughter; 
the latter is the wife of a Baptist clergyman. Mr. Drew was a 
very genial man, of medium height, slight build, wiry, active, ner- 
vous, but not excitable. He is reported to have said that he 
" never lost a night's sleep through business cares in his life." If 
this was so, and there is no reason to doubt that it was true up to 
the time the statement was made, he was probably an exception to 
most men of his class ; few financiers could show such a serene 
record as that. Mr. Drew had regular features, rather a dark 
complexion and dark hair, which was very little changed up to an 
advanced age. He was a man whom all his business acquaintances 
and friends liked to chat with, and, though he kept his " points " 
well in hand, there was no show of reticence in his manner. He 
was a kindly-hearted man, and one who did many generous deeds 
in his long life. 



COLONEL JAMES G; FAIR. 

Colonel Fair is one among several of the Pacific slope million- 
aires who has not been content with the influence which money 
could give or with the luxuries which wealth like his could procure. 
Nor is it strange that in the prime of life he should still be seek- 
ing new fields to conquer in an atmosphere far removed from the 
gold fields. Whether it is desirable to have in so small a body as 
the Senate even one member who is assessed in his home for $42,- 
200,000 of personal property may well be considered by a constitu- 
ency of whom the vast majority are laboring people ; but this is 
not the place to discuss that question. 

The name of James C. Fair will be recognized at once as one 
of the bonanza kings. Though born in Ireland, he is practically 
an American, having been a resident of the United States from 
his childhood. He received most of his education at Geneva, in 
the State of Illinois ; and this was principally directed to preparing 
him for business. After leaving school he first went to that great 
centre of enterprise — that maelstrom which is ever drawing to 
itself the youth of the West — Chicago ; here he had remained but 
a short time in business when the gold fever of 1849 broke out 
with all its virulence, as might be expected, among the active tem- 
peraments gathered in that city. Mr. Fair had just arrived at the 
hopeful and imaginative age of eighteen ; he joined the great 
pilgrimage to the shrine of gold, arriving in August of that year 
in California. He had come overland, and the first place that he 
struck was a point on the Feather river known as Long's Bar ; he 
immediately went to work as a miner, but at that time having no 
practical experience, like thousands of others he failed to strike a 
paying placer. This placer mining on the rivers and creeks was 
(520) 




JAMES G. FAIR. 



COLONEL JAMES C. FAIR. 52 1 

that generally adopted in the first grand rush and haste to gather 
up that which lay nearest to the surface; it needed no expensive 
machinery, of which indeed there was none attainable at that period 
in the territory. A pick, pan and shovel was the miner's outfit, 
and with these simple implements sometimes the value of one hun- 
dred dollars a day was secured ; the dirt was simply washed out 
in the pans ; the black sand and gold, being heavier than the dis- 
solved earth, remained in the bottom, while the lighter particles 
were poured off. Some rude attempts to improve on the simple 
pan were improvised, such as the "cradle," or the "rocker," which 
was more capacious and fitted with a screen, which facilitated the 
separation of the gold from the earthy materials. The "long- 
torn," another simple substitute, was formed by fixing a box in such 
a position as to form a sluice-way, into which the crude, unsifted 
material was thrown, and from which the running water carried 
away the earth, leaving the precious metal in the box. 

By such imperfect means as these did James C. Fair make a 
beginning on the road to fortune ; but he was one of those who 
had profited by his early instruction, and while he was washing 
out his pans of dirt it must have occurred to him that, where there 
were placer washings, not far off must be the rock-beds which 
supplied these auriferous streams. Certain it is that he soon 
left these primitive " diggings " and went in search of a quartz 
mining site, which he believed in the end would prove more 
profitable. A favorable opportunity opened to him at Angels, 
Calaveras county. He remained there some time; the yield being 
only moderate, and his motto being ever " Excelsior," he pushed 
on to other localities, not losing much time where the prognostics 
were only " fair to middling." In the course of time, adding a 
varied experience to his book knowledge, he became an acknowl- 
edged expert, and w r as offered the superintendency of several min- 
ing companies in various parts of California. After he had been 
in the country about six years he accepted the management of 
the famous Ophir mine, in Nevada, and two years later, in 1857, 



522 COLONEL JAMES C. FAIR. 

he became superintendent of the rich and prolific Hale and Nor- 
cross mine, both of these being within the section since known as 
the Comstock Lode ; and it was during his connection with the 
Hale and Norcross that he began to accumulate his profits in 
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mr. Flood about this time be- 
came his partner, and thenceforward the pair have gone on in 
princely emulation, counting their gains no more by thousands 
but by millions. 

The next important move in which Mr. Fair and partner were 
concerned was the successful effort to get control of the mines 
known as the " California," the "Sides," the "White & Murphy," 
the "Central" (Nos. i and 2), and the section known as "the 
Kenny ground ; " these are the mines which formed the famous 
combination of the " Consolidated California and Virginia," of which 
John W. Mackay later became a partner. It is understood that 
this consolidation of interest was made mainly under the advice 
of Mr. Fair, whose favorable opinion of the productive capacity 
of the lodes included in the purchase was all-potent with the others 
chiefly interested. That he was not mistaken the world knows, 
and if the Comstock Lode has for the time suffered a partial 
eclipse by the more newly opened mines of Colorado, it was not 
until the Bonanza kings had extracted over $300,000,000 from the 
crude ore. Mr. Fair has not let his money rust; with a vast in- 
come, which it was impossible for him to spend in any personal 
gratification, he turned his attention to real estate ; he did this to 
some extent as early as 1858-59, but since then on a much wider 
scale, and is said to own within the boundaries of the city of San 
Francisco seventy acres of land. Outside of the city he owns a 
large and beautiful estate — Menlo Park, formerly the residence of 
Hon. Milton S. Latham. Also another beautifully situated place for 
a city residence, on that high rise of land known to all residents 
of San Francisco as California Street Hill ; this property lies on 
the very summit, from whence is obtained a very extensive view 
of the city and vicinity ; but for much of the time Mr. Fair has 



COLONEL JAMES C. FAIR. 523 

resided in Virginia City, where he has spent so many hours down 
in the bottom of the mines that it has told on his physical and 
mental system. 

He is naturally genial in his manners; but as a practical, work- 
ing superintendent he was often obliged to employ many rough 
and unscrupulous characters, and with these of course it was im- 
possible to be always on satisfactory terms ; many of these miners 
were known to have been desperate characters from Australia, 
and Mr. Fair's friends did not always consider his life safe in a 
position where it was so easy to have "accidents " occur. In time 
this way of life told even on his robust constitution, and at last 
physicians recommended a total cessation from care and a long 
voyage, which it was hoped would restore the general tone of his 
system. A voyage to China did much to recuperate the exhausted 
nerves ; since which Mr. Fair was elected to the United States 
Senate, in 1881, and he gives every evidence of having been en- 
tirely restored to his normal condition — except that at the close 
of the session he left Washington without drawing his salary, an 
event unprecedented, we believe, in the history of the country. 
He was elected on the Democratic ticket. 

There are always a good many stories afloat of these wealthy 
men, and nothing pleases "the street" better than to hear of their 
getting caught, as they do occasionally, in their own nets. A well- 
authenticated anecdote comes to us of Colonel Fair and a brother 
millionaire, Mr. Robert Sherwood. The incident occurred four 
or five years ago, at the time of the " Sierra Nevada deal." Mr. 
Sherwood then held 5,000 shares of " Union Consolidated." Col- 
onel. Fair was promenading about Nevada Block and talking in a 
rather boastful manner, and pretty loud, about the prospective 
rise in " Union ; " in fact, he was " bulling " the street, so far as 
the group of persons about might be considered susceptible sub- 
jects. Mr. Sherwood very quietly remarked that he hoped these 
visions of a rise were all true, but he had his doubts. Colonel 
Fair was nettled at the insinuation, and somewhat rudely retorted: 



524 COLONEL JAMES C. FAIR. 

"Then I suppose you would like to peddle out your stock? " "No," 
said Sherwood ; " I don't care to peddle it, but I'll sell it all out in 
a block." " What'll you take ? " " Market price." By this time 
there was a small crowd gathered round, and all were scanning 
the colonel to see how he bore the bluff. He saw he could not 
recede without bringing down on himself the derisive laughter 
of the crowd. "I'll give you $175." "No," said Sherwood: "I 
can peddle it out for that — nothing but the market price." "What 
is it now ? " was the almost simultaneous query of both parties, 
as they walked to the ticker. " $203 for Union," said some one. 
" I'll give you $200," said the colonel. " I'll take it," said Sher- 
wood ; " give me your check." " Come into the bank," and in a 
very few minutes Colonel Fair had the 5,000 shares of " Union," 
then on the drop, and Mr. Robert Sherwood had added $1,000,000 
to his bank account. For a few minutes the reported purchase 
of Colonel Fair braced the market in the Stock Board, but there 
was no saving it by such devices ; it shortly after fell steadily, till 
it dropped out of sight and ceased to be listed. 

When in Washington Mr. Fair occupies Charles Sumner's 
old residence. When on the Pacific coast, his great delight is to 
drive down to the great seaside resort on the beach at Santa Cruz. 
Here, particularly on a Sunday afternoon, he was formerly pretty 
sure to make his appearance with his family, driving his own team, 
and seldom did he return without taking a dip in the refreshing 
waters of the peaceful ocean. He is a bold swimmer, and his 
scarlet-trimmed suit might often be discerned at a somewhat dis- 
quieting distance from the shore. 

During the spring of 1883 the community in San Francisco as 
well as in Virginia City, and wheresoever the fame of Colonel Fair 
had extended, were startled by the announcement that Mrs. 
Theresa Fair, wife of the Senator from Nevada, had entered a suit 
for divorce in the District Court at Virginia City. Counsel for 
the plaintiff requested that the examination of witnesses be con- 
ducted privately, which was granted, the hearing being had on the 



COLONEL JAMES C. FAIR. 525 

1 2th of May, 1883. Newspaper reporters were rigorously ex- 
cluded. The whole affair occupied less than an hour, in which 
time the court was convinced that Mrs. Fair was "justly entitled 
to a decree in her favor" and an allowance of $4,250,000 in cash 
and United States bonds ; together with the family residence in 
San Francisco, and the custody of the three minor children, a boy 
of sixteen and two daughters, aged respectively thirteen and eight. 
The eldest son, James C. Fair, Jr., being nearly of age, was 
awarded to the Senator. It was this son of whom the unfounded 
report was spread that he had shot his father. These parties had 
been married since 1862, and had lived together over twenty years, 
first in California and afterwards in Nevada. After the divorce 
there was an amicable readjustment of some of the property 
involved. Mrs. Fair transferred some real estate which had been 
awarded to her to the Senator, and he deeded to her other prop- 
erty in lieu of it. She also acquiesced in his taking charge of the 
second son to place him at school in Germany. Senator Fair ap- 
peared particularly annoyed at the publicity given to the particulars 
of the suit, which of course leaked out, despite the precautions of 
the court, and were copied in every paper in the United States 
within a few days of the rendering of the decision. He should 
have remembered that a more obscure person had a better chance 
for secret proceedings than one whose enormous wealth constantly 
kept thousands of eyes upon his every movement. That is one 
of the penalties of distinction. Mr. Fair left almost immediately 
for Europe with his two sons, giving no definite information as to 
his future intentions. He is, however, building another palatial 
residence in San Francisco to cost $1,000,000. 



WEBSTER WAGNER. 

The Hon. Webster Wagner, inventor of the " Wagner Sleep- 
ing Car," and late Senator of New York, was of German stock, 
though a native-born American. His ancestors were among the 
pioneer settlers who colonized the fertile valley of the Mohawk, 
early in the eighteenth century. Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Wag- 
ner, of the American army, who was one of the bravest men whose 
record is to be found in the annals of "border warfare" in the 
last century, was Senator Wagner's great-grandfather. He also 
lived to fight in the Revolutionary army ; and when he died there 
were many of his descendants located in the small town of Pala- 
tine Bridge, where Webster Wagner was born on the 2d of Oc- 
tober, 181 7. He was early inducted into the knowledge that this 
was a working world ; brought up in semi-rustic style, with the 
mere rudiments of an education, he was early apprenticed to the 
trade of wagon-making with an elder brother named James, who 
was established in that business. After fulfilling his term as ap- 
prentice, he was taken into partnership with his brother, but for 
some cause the business did not prosper, and Webster Wagner 
determined to turn his energies in some other direction. He had 
been steady and industrious, and had succeeded in making some 
valuable- friends, who appreciated his intelligence and sound com- 
mon sense, and through one of these, Mr. Livingston Spraker, 
who was a Director of the New York Central Railroad Company, 
he obtained the position of station-agent at Palatine Bridge in 
1843. This is a small town fifty-five miles northwest of Albany, 
and the local passenger traffic did not amount to much ; but the 
agency here included the charge of the freight business, and to 
this was shortly afterwards added the agency of the American 
(526) 



WEBSTER WAGNER. 527 

Express Company. It was in this obscure station that Mr. Wag- 
ner commenced his acquaintance with the railroad business, and 
the familiarity which he here acquired with the wants of travellers, 
and the many discomforts which at that time those particularly 
who made long journeys had to endure, first set his mind at 
work on the possibilities of reducing these discomforts to a min- 
imum. 

Being of an exceedingly active temperament, the duties of the 
station and express agency failed to fill up his time ; he therefore 
engaged in the forwarding of grain and other agricultural pro- 
ducts ; and after i860 abandoning his position as station agent, he 
devoted his whole attention to this line of business, in which he 
did so well that in a few years he had secured a competency, and, 
with the leisure which* was thus procured, he found his thoughts 
reverting to the possibility of improving the accommodations for 
travellers, and one of the first practical thoughts which his mind 
evolved was the idea of sleeping-cars. 

Knowing the value of time to business men, and the fact that 
after a long night-journey in the old-fashioned cars, with no possi- 
bility of lying down or greatly changing the sitting position, no 
man was in a fit condition, mentally or physically, to engage at 
once in business transactions, he concluded that the most pressing 
need of the times was some kind of an improved car for enabling 
the traveller to repose comfortably at night. 

Having expended considerable thought on the best form of con- 
struction, and experimenting with various models, he secured the 
co-operation of three other gentlemen — Messrs. Morgan Gardener, 
of Utica, and George B. Gates and T. N. Parmbe, of Buffalo ; and 
together they entered upon the manufacture of the Wagner sleep- 
ing-car. One thing Mr. Wagner had not taken into the account: 
his arrangement for berths was very well conceived for a first ex- 
periment ; but at that time all the cars were made with low and 
nearly flat roofs, and the air space was thus very contracted, and 
when Mr. Wagner's first four cars, which had cost $800 apiece, 



528 WEBSTER WAGNER. 

were put on the night trains of the New York Central Railroad, 
this defect became very apparent, though in other respects giving 
great satisfaction. Hon. Erastus Corning was President of the 
New York Central Railroad at that time, and was very enthusias- 
tic as to the success of the new cars, when proper ventilation 
should be secured. 

To remedy the stifling atmosphere of the flat-roofed car, when 
closed at night, Mr. Wagner, in 1859, projected the elevated car- 
roof, such as is now in almost universal use, and with this enlarged 
space and means of ventilation, the " sleeping-car " became an 
established fact, and the travelling public wondered why such a 
simple device should not have been thought of before. With a 
generosity not often equalled, Mr. Wagner declined to patent his 
elevated roof for railroad cars, deeming them so essential for the 
comfort of travellers, that he would not put the slightest hindrance 
in the way of their universal adoption. Of course other improve- 
ments were gradually introduced, and the whole arrangements are 
far more luxurious and costly than the first invention ; instead of 
eight hundred dollar sleeping-cars, those which are used on this 
same road now cost more than double that sum. 

One useful invention in a given direction is often suggestive of 
others of a collateral nature. The sleeping-car had scarcely be- 
come fully established and adopted in general practice, than Mr. 
Wagner resolved to do something for the increased comfort of 
day travel ; and the result of his cogitations was the drawing-room 
or palace-car. This was welcomed as eagerly as the sleeping-car 
had been, and on all the popular lines of travel they are now used 
as extensively as the more common kind; sometimes the majority 
of the cars on a lono- train will be of the better class. A return to 
the old system and old style of cars would be impossible on any 
line in the United States which has once used the improved cars 
invented by Webster Wagner. With the new style of construc- 
tion has likewise grown the taste for fine upholstery and interior 
decoration ; aesthetically toned glass takes the place of plain lights; 



WEBSTER WAGNER. 529 

curtains and carpets correspond, while pivoted reclining chairs en- 
able the most nervous traveller to adjust himself comfortably in 
half a dozen different positions ; dressing and dining-room cars 
followed in natural sequence the original invention. In this coun- 
try when once the question of considering a traveller's comfort was 
broached, and the idea ignored that all a railroad company had to 
do was to get its passengers to their destination, it became certain 
that no limit short of absolute luxury would see the end of im- 
proved car fittings. 

From active business to active politics is a metamorphosis which 
takes place so frequently as to excite no particular surprise, and 
the readiness with which it was accomplished, and the ability in 
statesmanship so frequently displayed in the halls of State legisla- 
tion, and even in Congress, by non-professional members, shows 
that there is something in the education, or in the social atmos- 
phere of the average American youth which develops the intel- 
lect in a broad and useful manner, susceptible of being turned in 
many different directions. In 1870 Mr. Wagner received the 
nomination of the Republican party in his county for Representa- 
tive to the Assembly, and was elected by a small majority of only 
two hundred votes. That his course was satisfactory to his con- 
stituents is sufficiently indicated by the fact that the next year he 
was chosen to represent the Fifteenth Senatorial District, and was 
returned by a majority of over three thousand, and, at the end of 
the term, he was re-elected by a joint movement of the citizens, 
no opposition candidate appearing, or only nominally so. He 
was successively re-elected at every session from that time till the 
period of his premature death. 

In the Republican Convention held in Chicago in 1880 Mr. 
Wagner was a delegate, and was one of the renowned seventeen 
delegates from the State of New York who opposed the " third- 
term " movement, and consequently instrumental in securing the 
nomination of James A. Garfield for the Presidency. He has al- 
ways acted with the Republican party since its organization, and, 
34 



530 WEBSTER WAGNER. 

either in the House or in the Senate, has always been a working' 
member," serving on many committees, and conspicuous there for 
the same sound common sense and penetration as always marked 
his business transactions ; he was serving as chairman of the com- 
mittee on railroads at the time of the fearful accident which cut 
short his career. From the length of time during which he had 
held his seat in the upper House, Mr. Wagner had obtained the 
sobriquet of "the Father of the Senate." 

On the 13th of January, 1882, as Mr. Wagner, in company with 
several other members of the Legislature, was returning from 
Albany to his home by the Hudson River Railroad, a collision 
occurred, resulting in a fearful disaster, involving great loss of life; 
and, to add to the horror of the situation, the cars took fire. An 
eye-witness thus relates the story : " Mr. Wagner fell a victim to 
his vigilance and anxiety for the safety of his companions. If not 
a case of self-immolation for others, it was clearly an instance of 
martyrdom suffered in trying to secure the safety of his friends, 
for, if he had not gone back to ascertain the cause of the trouble, 
and if possible remedy it, he would have escaped." It seems that 
he had been sitting, with some twenty other senators and politi- 
cians from Albany, in the smoking-car, but had left it temporarily 
when the collision occurred ; not at first aware of its serious 
nature, he hastened to see if his companions were endangered, 
became involved in the ruin of the wrecked car — inextricably 
jammed in the debris — and, before help could be secured for him 
or others, he was crushed and burned beyond recognition, save by 
his watch and some other indestructible substances about him by 
which his body was identified. Amid the general feeling of horror 
which the news of this catastrophe aroused, there was no one of the 
victims for which such universal regret and commiseration was felt 
as for Senator Wagner. It seemed indeed a hard fate that a man 
who had given the best years of his life to securing the comfort of 
the travelling public should be destined to be immolated in one of 
his own luxurious cars. In New York, where the senator had a 



WEBSTER WAGNER. 53 I 

city residence, the feeling was intense ; but at Palatine Bridge, 
where he was personally known to every inhabitant, and where many 
remembered him from his earliest boyhood, his sudden and shock- 
ing death was mourned as for a near and dear relative ; business 
was everywhere spontaneously suspended; flags were at half-mast, 
and many houses draped in mourning. 

As soon as possible after the accident Senator Wagner's body 
had been forwarded to New York ; but on the 17th instant it was 
conveyed, by a large and honorable deputation of mourning friends 
and official representatives, to the site of his birthplace, where the 
funeral obsequies took place, the interment being made in the 
Lutheran Cemetery. Besides the beautiful country residence 
occupied by Senator Wagner's family at Palatine Bridge, part of 
the year was spent at their elegant house in New York, located in 
Forty-fourth street, between Fifth avenue and Broadway ; he left 
a widow, one son, Mr. Norman Wagner, and four daughters — a 
very united family. Senator Wagner was about sixty-five years old 
at the time of his death, tall, broad-shouldered and in good health, 
which appeared to give promise of many years of usefulness yet to 
come; his prompt movements and genial manner were far more 
suggestive of the full maturity of mental power than of any approach 
to old age. One of the most gratifying features of those sad days 
intervening between Mr. Wagner's death and the funeral was the 
genuine grief displayed by the workmen and others employed by 
him. He was kind and just to them, and they knew how to ap- 
preciate his worth. His estate was valued at over $2,000,000. It 
is some satisfaction to know that Mr. Wagner's death was not 
altogether fruitless for the travelling community. Soon after the 
collision at Spuyten Duyvil the three railroad companies whose 
lines converge into the Grand Central Depot at New York began 
the application of a system of safety-signals and switches, but re- 
cently completed, by which the possibility of accident appears 
reduced to a minimum. 



MOSES TAYLOR. 

If Moses Taylor had never done anything else than made his 
gift of a hospital for the benefit of the laborers on the Delaware, 
Lackawanna and Western Railroad and the Delaware Iron and 
Coal Company, he would have deserved recognition here, for 
probably no large class of men in the country were more in need 
of such an institution than these miners and railroad men. If we 
were discussing questions of political economy, or the practical 
humanities of modern life, it might be pertinent to ask whether it 
would not be better for the great corporations to pay their laborers 
living wages than to build hospitals for them ? but this is not the 
place to consider such queries, and if the one is neglected, so much 
the greater need for the other. But Moses Taylor's reputation as 
a recognized factor in New York life was made long before the 
Scranton Hospital was thought of. 

Moses Taylor was of English stock ; his great-grandfather of 
the same name came to New York from London in 1736, nearly 
1 50 years ago, and commenced business on very nearly the same 
spot where the late Moses had his office for over forty years. 

Young Taylor was a merchant born, and early showed those 
qualities which lead to success. He commenced his independent 
business career after a long apprenticeship as clerk at 55 South 
street, afterwards removing to No. 44. It was a very unfor-' 
tunate year for a new enterprise. The cholera was raging as an 
epidemic during that summer in New York; business was in con- 
sequence excessively depressed, thousands fled from the city, but 
Mr. Taylor courageously stood by his infant business, came un- 
scathed out of the ordeal, and made a fairly profitable year under 
the great disadvantage. Three years more of prosperity awaited 
(532) 



MOSES TAYLOR. 533 

him, and then a great disaster. The fire of 1835 extended to his 
store and swept it out of sight, only his account books and a few 
papers being saved. For a moment he felt himself a ruined man, 
but his natural energy soon buoyed him up, and the next day, not 
finding a fitting place to hire, he opened his office in the basement 
of his residence, on Morris street, resuming business at once. As 
soon as practicable he procured an office in Broad street, while his 
new store was building in South street, the contract for which he 
had made the day after the fire, and which he occupied as soon as 
completed, never making any change of location. His was one 
of the first stores rebuilt. 

From the commencement of his business career, Mr. Taylor had 
deposited with the City Bank, and in 1855 ne was elected its presi- 
dent. He was no mere figure-head, as so many bank presidents 
are ; he took an active share in its management, using the same 
care, skill and sagacity which distinguished his methods in his pri- 
vate affairs. This was evidenced during the financial panic of 
1857, when there was an unprecedented run on nearly every bank 
in the city. The bankers called a meeting to discuss the situation 
and to organize for protection ; meeting after business hours, the 
representative of each bank was called upon to state the amount 
of loss in its reserved specie ; the several gentlemen reported 
drafts of from fifty to ninety per cent. When Mr. Taylor was 
called upon, he replied : " We had in the City Bank this morning 
$400,000 ; to-night we have $480,000." During Mr. Taylor's presi- 
dency the late Commodore Vanderbilt deposited with the City 
Bank, and it is said often tried to induce the president to enter 
into some of his grand speculations, but never could induce Moses 
Taylor to invest a cent in any of his projects. The explanation is 
that each of the two men was too big to be yoked : each wanted 
to drive. 

Mr. Taylor was quite a contrast to some of his cotemporaries 
on the road to wealth ; like William E. Dodge, for instance, who 
was connected with almost every religious and charitable institu- 



534 MOSES TAYLOR. 

tion in the city, Moses Taylor was no indiscriminate giver, nor 
did he assist materially the popular organized charities of the day, 
but individual cases, particularly those young merchants in need, 
he was ready to assist, if their record was clear, and their capacity 
sufficient to warrant their remaining in business for themselves. 
When he was a young man he was himself at one time indebted to 
John Jacob Astor for assistance to tide him over an embarrass- 
ment, and he never forgot it ; indeed, on account of his father 
being in the employment of the wealthy fur-trader and great real 
estate owner, led many to believe that Mr, Astor was a sort of 
domestic bank, upon which young Taylor could draw at pleasure; 
this was far from being the case, but it helped his credit amazingly. 

There were two occasions, however, in which Mr. Taylor put 
out his money, which must fairly be attributed to broad-minded, 
far-seeing, and not altogether selfish motives. The first of these 
was his financial aid to the projectors of the Atlantic cable. He 
was one of the five incorporators, and its treasurer from the first 
organization of the company in 1854 until 1873, and during all the 
years of its early misfortunes and disasters stood by it manfully, 
with faith, courage, sympathy and money. His indignation was 
intense when some one ventured, in his presence, to express a 
doubt of the genuineness of the first message received from Eng- 
land. Mr. Taylor had never failed in any of his business enter- 
prises ; and he could not believe that anything with which he was 
connected could eventually fail to succeed. 

When he next came to the front it was as a patriot, furnishing 
the sinews of war to the government. At the very commence- 
ment of hostilities he took a decided stand as to the duty of banks 
in the premises. So early as April, 1861, he assisted in organ- 
izing the " Loan Committee of the Clearing House Association," 
and became its chairman, in which position he was able to exert a 
wide influence in favor of the Union's cause. He was in politics a 
Democrat, which was a favorable circumstance, as he was thus 
enabled to show that some of the most influential of that party had 



MOSES TAYLOR. 535 

no lot or fellowship with that interpretation of " States' Rights " 
which led to secession ; previous, however, to the war, he had taken 
no active part in politics, being too fully occupied with his business 
affairs ; but when the crisis came he was fully alive to the duties 
of his position, as a man of wealth and social influence. He fa- 
vored the loaning of money by the banks to the government, and 
sacrificed his own affairs to attend to the details of arranging- such 
loans. At the solicitation of President Lincoln and Secretary 
Chase he made several journeys to Washington, to consult with 
them and the Finance Committees of Congress. Probably no in- 
dividual (with the exception of Jay Cooke) did more than Mr. 
Taylor to sustain the credit of the United States during the first 
two years of the war. * 

He was early connected with the efforts to develop the great 
coal-bearing region of northern Pennsylvania, being interested in 
the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Companies, and somewhat later 
bought largely of the depressed stock of the Delaware, Lacka- 
wanna & Western Railroad. After the monetary panic, in 1857, 
this stock fell to $5 per share ; Mr. Taylor had faith in the future 
of the road, and bought this stock, and he kept it seven years, 
when it rose to $240. In 1858 he became a Director of the 
Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company; and when Mr. Joseph H. 
Scranton died (in 1872), Mr. Taylor was elected president. An- 
other investment, which proved exceedingly profitable, was the 
purchase of Manhattan Gas Company stock ; when Mr. Taylor 
bought this it was very low, between "thirty" and "forty;" it was 
really worth more, its depreciation having been caused by bad 
management ; but Mr. Taylor having secured a controlling interest, 
he brought about immediate reforms, and infused so much energy 
into the concern that good dividends soon gladdened the hearts of 
the other stockholders, while he made a respectable fortune out 
of it. His " Georgia Central " Railroad stock was also a source 
of profit ; he was for some time connected with the Philadelphia & 
Reading Railroad, but not approving the management, withdrew. 



536 MOSES TAYLOR. 

The only road, we believe, which ever defaulted on its interest, of 
which he was an officer, was the " International," a road running 
from Sherbrook, Canada, to Lake Megantic, in the State of Maine. 
He was a Director of the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
The Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, and some others. 

Moses Taylor married, in 1832, Miss Catharine Wilson, a 
daughter of the well-known ship-bread and cracker baker on Ful- 
ton street, New York. The eldest son, George, had resided some 
years in England ; the second son, Robert Winthrop, was a junior 
partner in his father's business. There are two daughters, both 
married. Mr. Taylor's death occurred on May 23d, 1882, his 
widow and four children surviving him. His estate was enor- 
mous : between $45,000,000 and $50,000,000, and principally con- 
sisted of stocks and bonds ; as a friend remarked, " he had very 
little real estate, not over $3,000,000." 

The sum which Mr. Taylor bequeathed for a hospital, to be 
built at Scranton, was $250,000 in first mortgage bonds of the 
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad; the real value is about 
$270,000. The trustees of this fund are President Edwin F. Hat- 
field, of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company, and President 
Sloan, of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. It will 
be known as the " Moses Taylor Hospital." The need of a hos- 
pital was particularly felt at Scranton on account of the numerous 
accidents to the men and boys employed in the mines, and the 
laborers on the railroad. The building is now in process of erec- 
tion on lands owned by the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company. 




ASA PACKER. 



ASA PACKER. 

In the long list of the names of men who have achieved financial 
greatness solely by their own tireless energy and indomitable 
courage few stand forth more significantly and prominently than 
that of Asa Packer. The vast wealth of which he died possessed 
came to him not as the result of blind chance or of fortuitous cir- 
cumstances, but as the result of painstaking, wisely-directed effort, 
and changeless constancy to a specific purpose ; it was the result 
of a life-struggle in which labor, intensified as difficulties multi- 
plied, at last conquered all things. 

It is the crowning glory of this vast success, that while it was 
achieved in fields of enterprise in which as many reputations have 
been wrecked as fortunes won, no taint of dishonesty or indirec- 
tion mars its completeness. It was a fortune honestly gained ; no 
legislatures were bought and no markets "cornered, bulled, or 
beared." The great power which it gave him was never used for 
the ruin or oppression of others, but solely for the welfare of his 
fellow-men. No juster eulogium was ever bestowed upon a just 
man than that with which the name of Asa Packer was presented 
to the Democratic National Convention of 1868 as the candidate 
of Pennsylvania for the Presidency of the United States. 

In bringing his name before the convention, the late Judge 
Woodward of Pennsylvania said : " If our candidate has not filled 
the noisy trump of fame, these are the trophies which he has won 
in the battle of life : He has not gashed the bosom of the earth 
to make millions of graves for his fellow-men, but he has given 
employment to the idle, homes to the homeless, bread to the 
hungry, and clothing to the naked. He has not filled the land 
with widows and orphans, but widows and orphans have shared 

(537) 



538 ASA PACKER. 

his bounties, and the blessings of the widow's God have descended 
upon his basket and his store." 

This life, so singularly crowned with fortune and with honor, 
began in December, 1804, in the then little village of Mystic, Con- 
necticut. Asa Packer's paternal grandfather was Elisha Packer, 
then one of the leading business men of that section, and whose 
industries seem to have been as various as those of his grandson 
were destined to become, for he was not only a farmer, but a 
tanner and shoemaker. 

The father of Asa Packer was Elisha Packer, Jr., who, although 
inheriting the industry of the family and a full share of intelligence, 
was so lacking in some quality of tact or energy, that he never 
became successful in business affairs. 

To the grandfather, then, those who would seek an illustration 
of the laws of heredity, must look as the source of those qualities 
which in after years made the grandson so signally a favorite of 
fortune. 

The want of business success on the part of the father early in 
life threw Asa upon his own resources, and when still very young 
he obtained employment in the tannery of Elias Smith, of North 
Stonington, Connecticut, midway between which town and New 
London Mystic is situated. Here his industry and probity soon 
won him a place in the esteem and confidence of his employer. 
This connection, however, was soon terminated by the death of 
Mr. Smith, and Asa then entered the employment of one John 
Brown, a farmer, in whose service he continued until his removal 
to the State of Pennsylvania. Asa becoming satisfied that there 
was for him but small chance of arriving at success or achieving 
distinction in Connecticut, determined to seek his fortune in an- 
other field. The direction of this movement was determined by 
the fact that a brother of his father had removed from Connecticut 
to Dimeck Cross Roads, an obscure village in Susquehanna 
county, Pennsylvania. At the age of seventeen Asa resolved to 
join him. 



ASA PACKER. 539 

The long journey was made on foot, and was attended with 
many hardships. His sole earthly possessions were a few, very 
few, dollars in his pocket, the savings of his small earnings as a 
farmer, and a scanty outfit of clothing, carried in a knapsack 
strapped to his back. But he had that which after all is a man's 
best capital in the business of life — youth, courage, integrity, and 
that vigorous frame and robust health which his life of enforced 
toil had secured to him. Arrived at his journey's end, he received 
in the humble home of his uncle a most kind and affectionate wel- 
come. Still his prospects were but gloomy ; he was without a 
trade or profession, and dependent upon his own unskilled and 
untrained hands for a livelihood. Acting upon the wise advice of 
his uncle, he became an indentured apprentice to a carpenter and 
joiner, and at the end of three years, at which time he had attained 
his majority, he had well mastered his trade. This as a vocation 
he followed but for a short time ; in fact, only long enough to 
obtain a little capital, with which he removed to the city of New 
York, which then, even in a higher degree than now, was the goal 
of nearly every ambitious American youth. At the expiration of 
a year Asa returned to Susquehanna county, poorer in pocket — 
if richer in experience. This apparent restlessness of disposition 
finds an adequate explanation in the fact that he had fallen deeply 
in love with the pretty daughter of his neighbor, Mr. Joseph 
Blakslee, a poor pioneer farmer ; and the inspiration of the New 
York experiment was the desire to speedily earn a sufficient sum 
of money to marry and maintain the woman of his choice. 

Poor as they both were, they determined no longer to delay their 
union. It was a true marriage, a joining, not only of hands, but 
of hearts. Asa Packer was then twenty-three years of age. Fifty 
years subsequently, in January, 1878, in his beautiful and pictur- 
esquely situated villa at Mauch Chunk, was celebrated the golden 
anniversary of this his most happy union with one whose wifely 
tenderness and womanly devotion sustained him in all the hard 
trials which it was his destiny to face before assured success was 
won. 



54-0 ASA PACKER. 

On a small farm, leased from Mr. Blakslee, his wife's father, the 
newly-wedded pair began the hard life of pioneer farmers, the 
scanty subsistence thus gained being eked out by occasional work 
at his trade ; land was cleared, a small home built and a little 
money saved. In the year 1833 came the turning-point in his 
career. The Lehigh canal had been completed, and the company 
was waiting only for the opening of spring to begin traffic. Mr. 
Packer learned that boatmen were wanted to take through the 
canal-boats loaded with coal, and he at once offered himself for the 
service, and was accepted. Leasing his farm in Susquehanna 
county, he removed to Mauch Chunk and took charge of one of 
the first boats sent through the canal to Philadelphia. 

He had at last found his opportunity, and was not slow to avail 
himself of it. With four hundred dollars which he had managed 
to save he bought a canal-boat and became its master. Other 
boats were purchased, in whole or in part. His trade as a car- 
penter and joiner enabled him to engage in the building of canal- 
boats ; and he also took large contracts for the construction of 
locks upon the upper Lehigh. 

Among the most important ventures made about this time was 
the purchase of a small store in Mauch Chunk, in which, in com- 
pany with his brother, he engaged in business under the firm-name 
of A. & R. W. Packer. The cash capital of the firm was the modest 
sum of $5,000, part of which had been furnished by an uncle. The 
firm not only engaged in a general merchandising business, such 
as is common in country stores, but also took contracts for the 
erection of locks and dams, and engaged in the working of coal 
mines leased from the Lehigh Company. Ultimately, the firm was 
able to purchase and operate the celebrated Hazleton mine, from 
which coal was shipped both to Philadelphia and New York. 

In 1838 the Packers entered into a contract with Stockton & 
Stevens, of New Jersey, to build boats at Pottsville for the direct 
transportation of coal to New York by the new canal. It is re- 
corded, as a somewhat odd coincidence, that the first load of coal 



ASA PACKER. 54 1 

to reach New York direct by the new route was. brought upon a 
beat named " Sivius," and that the " Sivius " from Pottsville ar- 
rived in New York bay in the same hour with the " Sivius " from 
Liverpool — the first transatlantic steamer which ever entered New 
York harbor. Thus together were two leading factors in the 
growth and popularity of the great metropolis set in operation. 

In all the transactions thus far recorded Mr. Packer had been 
eminently successful, and the year 1850 found him in the highest 
degree prosperous. But he now entered upon an undertaking 
which was destined to tax his financial resources to the uttermost 
and put his courage, fortitude and determination to tests from 
which few but he could have come forth triumphant. The Lehigh 
Valley Railroad, which, under the management of Asa Packer, was 
destined to play so important a part in the development of the 
magnificent mineral resources of that section, had been chartered 
in 1846, but not a tie had been laid or a spike driven. In October, 
1851, when but seventeen days of the limit specified in the charter 
for beginning the road remained, Asa Packer secured a controlling 
portion of the stock, and submitted a proposition to build forty-six 
miles of the road, from Mauch Chunk on the Lehigh to Easton on 
the Delaware, receiving the stock and bonds of the company in 
payment. 

This contract was carried through to completion under the most 
severe financial embarrassments. Commodore Stockton, with 
whom he had been so intimately associated in various business 
enterprises, and between whom and himself existed a most endur- 
ing friendship, proved in the emergency a friend indeed ; the com- 
modore came forward with most liberal subscriptions, and, through 
their combined influence, the New Jersey Railroad Company, and 
many other rich corporations, were induced to extend financial aid 
to the enterprise. 

Thus aided, the task was accomplished, and on September 4th, 
1855, the road, completed from Mauch Chunk to Easton, was 
formally transferred to the company. All interested in its con- 



54 2 ASA PACKER. 

struction, however, were deeply in debt. The stock which had 
been received in payment for the building of the road was appar- 
ently worthless, and for a long time it seemed probable that this 
enterprise would result in Mr. Packer's financial ruin ; but, by 
herculean exertions, he was enabled to struggle through, emerging 
triumphantly from his difficulties. The once worthless stock 
rapidly increased in value, and he became president and princi- 
pal owner of the road in the building of which he had risked 
his entire fortune. 

The line, originally so short and relatively unimportant, rapidly 
extended its ramifications and connections ; it became the chief 
avenue of traffic for the whole anthracite coal region of Pennsyl- 
vania, carrying that product, as well as iron, slate and lumber, to 
the seaboard, and, through its connections, to all the leading com- 
mercial centres of the country. It was his controlling interest in 
this mighty traffic which made Asa Packer the richest man in the 
State of Pennsylvania, his fortune at the time of his death being 
variously estimated at from fifteen to twenty millions of dollars. 
During this long period of absorbing business activity he had not, 
as is too often the case with men of wealth in the United States, 
been unmindful of the fact that the amassing of money is not the 
sole duty of a citizen of a free commonwealth. At the call of his 
fellow-citizens he devoted no inconsiderable share of his life to the 
performance of political and civic duties. In 1843 he was elected 
Associate-Judge of Carbon county, which position he filled with 
dignity and ability for the period of five years. Owing to his service 
upon the bench he was subsequently always known by the title of 
Judge Packer. Previous to this he had served for several terms 
in the State Legislature. 

From 1853 to 1857 he served two consecutive terms as Con- 
gressman from the Thirteenth District of Pennsylvania. In 1868, 
as already stated, he was the choice, for the Presidency, of the 
Democratic State delegation in the National Democratic Conven- 
tion. His nomination being found impossible, the State delegation 



ASA PACKER. 543 

reluctantly dropped his name and took up that of Major-General 
Hancock, only to be again defeated, the nomination being gained 
by Governor Seymour of New York. 

In 1869 he was the Democratic candidate for Governor of the 
State of Pennsylvania, but notwithstanding his personal popularity 
he was defeated by his Republican opponent, Governor Geary. 
This event terminated his active participation in the politics of the 
country, although to the hour of his death he always remained 
an ardent Democrat, and from his large means contributed liberally 
to the funds of the party. 

The building and endowment of Lehigh University, in Bethle- 
hem, Pennsylvania, is the act which must chiefly endear him to the 
present and future generations. It was the one great regret of 
his life that he had not in his youth secured a liberal education, 
and it was probably this sentiment which inspired this munificent 
provision for the training of the youth of the country. During a 
visit to Europe in 1865 he had visited the mining schools of Ger- 
many, and immediately after his return he made his first contri- 
bution to the founding of the school now so intimately associated 
with his name and fame. This first gift was sixty acres of wood- 
land and the sum of $500,000. This gift was subsequently in- 
creased to an extent sufficient to endow all the chairs, and thus 
make instruction in the institution absolutely free to all who chose 
to avail themselves of its advantages. 

As first projected, the school was designed chiefly for technical 
instruction in railway construction, civil engineering, mining, metal- 
lurgy, chemistry and agriculture, but subsequently this plan was 
modified and the curriculum of the school enlarged, so that now 
not only a scientific but a thorough classical training may be ob- 
tained. Students have, however, still the option of giving their 
exclusive attention to general, synthetical and analytical chemistry, 
mineralogy and metallurgy, analysis of soils, civil, mining and 
mechanical engineering or architecture. Four years are required 
to pass through the prescribed course of study. The first two 



544 ASA PACKER. 

years are given to that elementary instruction which is the neces- 
sary foundation for all attainment whether scientific or classical. 
The last two years are given by the student to the study of those 
particular branches required to fit him for the business or pro- 
fession he has decided to follow. 

From its inception Lehigh University has been highly success- 
ful, not simply in the sense of pecuniary prosperity, but in the 
higher sense of practical educational results. " Founder's Day " 
is celebrated the 14th of October each year. Throughout his long 
life Judge Packer had enjoyed robust health. Up to the time of 
his last illness his tall, vigorous form, well set off by the old- 
fashioned " swallow-tail " coat of blue cloth and brass buttons, to 
which he clung, gave but little indication of failing powers. But 
the hour appointed to all men came to him at last, and at ten 
o'clock in the evening of May 17, 1879, at his residence in Phila- 
delphia, after an illness of three weeks' duration, Asa Packer de- 
parted this life — the immediate cause of his death being impov- 
erishment of the blood, aggravated by a cold. His death created 
a profound impression throughout the State and excited universal 
sorrow among all classes. His body was immediately removed to 
Mauch Chunk, where, on the following Tuesday, it was consigned 
to its last resting-place, many of the most eminent citizens of the 
State acting as pall-bearers. His wife, two sons and one daughter, 
all of adult years, survived him. 

The last will and testament of Asa Packer bequeathed for the 
permanent endowment of Lehigh University the munificent sum 
of $1,500,000, and for the founding of a library for the university 
the additional sum of $500,000. But the most touching and char- 
acteristic feature of this instrument is the absolute loyalty of its 
provisions to the woman who had shared with him toil and priva- 
tion as well as ease and affluence. By his will he gave absolutely 
to his widow such portions of the estate as she might select, and 
the trustees were directed to hand over to her at any time what- 
ever sum of money or piece of property she may demand. " My 



ASA PACKER. 545 

purpose is," said the testator, " that she shall have whatever she 
wishes out of my estate, and all other provisions hereof are sub- 
ordinate to this one." 

And so ended this well-spent life. In the preceding pages only 
a few of its more salient features have been glanced at. That he 
gave munificently to public objects is known to all men ; but few 
know of those innumerable acts of private charity which gave con- 
stant testimony to his true benevolence and kindness of heart. An 
active member of the Protestant Episcopal Communion, he built 
and endowed many churches, not only for his own denomination, 
but for other faiths ; not forgetting, however, in the exercise of 
these more public benefactions the divine injunction, above all 
formulas or creeds, to visit the sick, comfort him that is afflicted, 
feed him who is an hungered, and to him who is thirsty give drink. 
And so in the Great Day the King shall surely say unto him: 
" Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto one 
of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me." 
35 



POTTER PALMER. 

The name of Palmer is as old as the Crusades; the warriors 
and pilgrims returning from the Holy Land were in the habit of 
bringing pieces of palm with them as a token that they had really 
been as far as Palestine, and hence these returning crusaders or 
pilgrims early acquired the title of " palmers " — in France such a 
person was called le pelerin. The first individual in England who 
received the name, as we now use a surname, was William le 
Palmer, who went as a crusader with Richard Cceur de Lion in 
the latter part of the twelfth century : other " palmers " also retained 
this title as a permanent name, conveying it to their descendants. 
The Palmers have become widely scattered throughout the United 
States, many of them, like the subject of this sketch, being de- 
scended from Walter Palmer, who came to this country with John 
Endicott in 1629. 

Walter Palmer, after examining several other localities, finally 
settled in Stonington, Connecticut, in 1653, making his homestead 
on Wequetequock cove, where of late years the annual reunion 
of his descendants, and those of his collateral relatives, is held ; 
these number between six and seven thousand, including persons 
of note in the learned professions ; inventors, discoverers, mer- 
chants, and soldiers ; prominent among the latter is the name of 
General U. S. Grant, who is a Palmer on the maternal side : one 
of his direct ancestors having married Grace, a daughter of Walter 
Palmer of Stonington. It may be considered a rather curious 
coincidence that General Grant's eldest son, Colonel Frederick 
Grant, married a sister of Mrs. Potter Palmer of Chicago: thus 
relinking the connection after a lapse of two hundred and thirty 
years. With the possible exception of Mr. A. M. Palmer, Mana- 
(546) 



POTTER PALMER. 547 

ger of the Union Square Theatre in New York, probably none of 
the name of the present generation "are known to so many persons 
in the United States as the genial proprietor of the " Palmer 
House " in the city of Chicago. 

Mr. Palmer has grown up with this great city in the West, and 
has seen it emerge from a straggling settlement in a slough to a 
substantial, wealthy, and prosperous city of over six hundred 
thousand inhabitants ; and he was one of the most active advo- 
cates for raising the grade of the city, which has added so much 
to the value of real-estate, the health and comfort of the inhabi- 
tants. When this grand project was first mooted, it was ridiculed 
by many, believed to be impracticable by the majority ; while of 
those who deemed it feasible many recoiled from the thought of 
the great expense involved: most people at that time thought 
Chicago was located in a natural swamp ; but the engineers 
brought out the fact that there was simply so very solid a sub- 
stratum of rock, a few feet below the surface, that the water could 
not percolate through it ; but even when the engineering difficul- 
ties were solved, it was not thought that the city could bear the 
expense of raising the whole grade at once. At this time Mr. 
Palmer's real-estate interests lay mainly in the southern portion of 
the city ; he had property then in that section which he said would 
be benefited fifty thousand dollars if he could have four feet more 
in his basements, and he would be glad of a raise of even six 
inches ; but he magnanimously added, " if this is too great an un- 
dertaking for the south division, do not let the rest of the city be 
deprived of a higher grade on that account." 

To the general community of Chicago Mr. Palmer first became 
known as a member of the great dry-goods firm on the corner of 
State and Washington streets. This was for years the local point 
for the fashionable promenaders and shoppers of the city, and not 
only these, but for all the adjoining country for miles around. 
Here he did an immensely large and profitable business, until store 
and goods were all swept away in the great fire of October nth, 



548 POTTER PALMER. 

1 871. After this terrible conflagration, in which Mr. Palmer lost 
everything, except his mercantile credit and reputation for sound 
dealing and thorough reliability, he decided not to recommence 
in his old business ; having full faith in the future of Chicago, he 
consulted with friends, in and out of the State, proposing with the 
aid of certain capitalists to erect a first-class hotel ; first-class in 
every respect, such as should be worthy of the future as well as of 
the then present demands of the great railroad centre of the West. 
A company was formed, of which Mr. Palmer became the practi- 
cal active head ; and the result was the erection of one of the finest 
hotels on the continent, possibly only one, in San Francisco, equal- 
ling it. The site was selected with a view to the accommodation 
of the resident business community, as well as of the travelling 
public. Central, being on the corner of State and Monroe streets, 
it is convenient to all points of interest usually sought out by visi- 
tors, except the abattoirs. This building covers an immense plot 
of ground ; is seven stories in height, and contains seven hundred 
and fifty rooms. In its construction two essential points have been 
considered — safety and comfort. It is as nearly fire-proof as 
human skill could design, and stands on the score of safety at the 
head of all the hotels in the country. Another feature of the 
" Palmer House " is the choice given to guests, of living on the 
European plan or frequenting the table d'hote, both systems being 
perfectly carried out in this grand Gasthqf. Another innovation 
on the ordinary usages of hotels was his grading the price of the 
rooms according to location and eligibility. He fully realized the 
injustice of charging the same prices for inferior upper rooms as 
forthose on the lower floors; and in making this new departure 
he has not only given satisfaction to his own guests, but has been 
so widely imitated by hotels elsewhere, that we may truly say he 
inaugurated a new dispensation in this important particular. In 
the conduct of this hotel Mr. Palmer's care for his guests has been 
amply rewarded financially ; he is believed by many to be the rich- 
est man in the city, and has become the owner of vast quantities 



POTTER PALMER. 549 

of real estate in and outside of Chicago. So important a part of 
his business is this, that an office is maintained in the hotel exclu- 
sively devoted to the management of his real estate interests ; and 
to see the great maps and diagrams, exhibiting his holdings, hung 
up in this office and scattered over the table, one almost feels in- 
clined to ask, what is there left for anybody else to own ? 

Mr. Palmer occupied until quite recently an elegant residence 
on Forty-seventh street, corner of Vincennes avenue, but has 
recently built a more spacious and magnificent home on the "Lake 
Shore drive," corner of Banks street. The style is something new 
in American architecture ; there being nothing like it in the coun- 
try: it is eighty feet front, with a depth of one hundred feet, and, 
like most of the grand residences in the western cities, it has a 
sufficient space of land around it to give it an elegant setting of 
green sward, trees and flowers ; the lot in which it stands meas- 
uring one hundred and sixty feet front by three hundred in depth. 
Though of no definite school of architecture, it may be described 
as a combination of the castellated Norman with the Gothic; 
mediaeval in its general exterior, but nothing is sacrificed to inside 
comfort and convenience ; the material of which it is constructed 
is principally Connecticut brown-stone, rock-faced, with plain butts 
of Cleveland sand-stone. The main building is three stories high, 
but sundry turrets and towers rise above this level, some ten, some 
fifteen feet, while one grand square tower, surmounted by a round 
tower, rises to a height of seventy feet from the ground-floor; 
from this, which is reached by a spiral stairway, most extensive 
views in every direction are obtained ; looking east, on a clear day, 
one with sharp eyes may see quite across the lake to the shores 
of Michigan. This main tower rises two stories above the roof, 
and on each floor of it is a room eighteen feet square, and around 
its base is a balcony, in which could stand fully twoscore persons. 
An immense conservatory, " where it is always summer," adorns 
the southern side of the mansion. For a private residence there 
is the novelty of a direct entrance to an elevator on one side of 



550 POTTER PALMER. 

the vestibule. This house, like the public " Palmer House," is 
fire-proof; even the roof being composed of iron set upon 
masonry arches. 

From his personal appearance Mr. Palmer would not be selected 
by the inexperienced as a millionaire. There is nothing preten- 
tious either in his appearance or manners ; he is between fifty and 
sixty years of age, of medium size, wears small chin-whiskers and 
dresses plainer than many clerks living on a small salary ; he is a 
man of indomitable courage and enterprise, and is devoted to the 
interests of the city of Chicago : whatever is for the benefit of the 
metropolis of Illinois is sure of his support. Mr. Palmer was 
brought up in the faith of the followers of George Fox, his mother 
having been an honored member of the Society of Friends ; this 
venerated lady, who died a few years ago, retained her simplicity 
of dress and manners to the last, being in no wise influenced by 
the wealth of her four sons to deviate from her accustomed habits, 
even requesting, a short time before her death, that she might be 
buried "after the fashion of her people," in an unstained white 
pine coffin. Mr. Potter Palmer married a Miss Honore, of 
Chicago ; Colonel Frederick Grant is his brother-in-law, the 
latter having married a younger daughter of the same family. 
As Mr. Palmer's estate is still growing, and may yet be en- 
larged for many years to come, it is not easy to even approximate 
its value. 

It is very common for people to ask, regarding men of large 
wealth, " What have they given to this or that ? " Have they 
founded any charity, or institution of learning? is the city or the 
State the better for all their wealth ? In answer we may say that 
such men as Potter Palmer, whether they make donations outright 
or not, are a benefit to the city. They make the city a pleasanter 
place to live in ; they employ large numbers of workmen ; they 
add a large share to the sum total of enterprise, which increases 
business facilities, and enables many others to do well for them- 
selves, and live better than they otherwise could. If all that Mr. 



POTTER PALMER. 55 l 

Palmer has done for Chicago in the way of developing its material 
interests could be blotted out, there would be a very large vacuum 
in the progressive history of northeastern Illinois. There are 
other ways, and we venture to say, with Herbert Spencer, some- 
times better ways, of helping either individuals or communities 
than by simply giving money. The man who has a monthly pay- 
roll to meet of thousands of dollars, and meets it promptly, is 
probably helping more poor people to keep out of the ranks of 
pauperism than many so-called philanthropists, who dole out a few 
dollars here and there to chronic feeders on the labor of others. 
Nor, when we consider that there centres in Chicago 40,792 miles 
of railroad, and that the guests stopping at the " Palmer " have 
averaged 535 daily for the last ten years, it is no small merit to 
have established a house where the weary traveller can find concen- 
trated every modern convenience and luxury, with the crowning 
solace of assured safety. 



AMASA STONE. 

Mr. Amasa Stone, late of Cleveland, Ohio, and said to be, with 
one exception, the wealthiest individual in the northern part of the 
State, dismayed his friends and astounded the community by com- 
mitting suicide on the nth of May, 1883. It is not often that 
persons blessed with very large possessions are anxious to leave 
them, or to relinquish the power and influence which great wealth 
can always secure. In reading the story of his life, we shall dis- 
cover that a very sensitive soul was lodged in the body of this 
man, and that events which to others are a " mere matter of busi- 
ness," was to him a reflection upon his personal honor. 

Mr. Stone was born in Charlton, Worcester county, Massachu- 
setts, on April 27, 18 18, and was directly descended from one of 
those Puritan families which settled in the "Old Bay Colony" in 
1635. "And there were giants in those days;" great strength and 
long life characterized many of that brave stock, and Amasa Stone's 
earliest American ancestor attained the age of nearly 100 years. 
Massachusetts always gave some amount of education to her sons, 
and Amasa Stone had his share. Those were the days too, when 
the sons of respectable families did not disdain to learn mechanical 
trades, and young Amasa acquired that of a carpenter and builder, 
as two of his elder brothers had done. He worked as a learner 
for three years, but before he was twenty had taken a contract to 
do all the joiner work upon a large house being erected in Wor- 
cester, and the same year assisted his brothers in building a church 
in East Brookfield. The next year he superintended the building 
of two other church edifices, with other buildings in different parts 
of his native State. The inventor of the " Howe Truss Bridge " 
was his brother-in-law, and in connection with this gentleman he 
(552) 



AM ASA STONE. 553 

built in 1839-40 a bridge across the Connecticut river at Spring- 
field, and two years later, he and a friend, Mr. A. Boody, combined 
to purchase the use of Mr. Howe's patent-right to the whole of 
the New England States — forming a company under the firm-name 
of Boody, Stone & Co., to build railroads (including bridges, when 
these were necessary). 

In 1845 Mr. Stone was appointed Superintendent of the New 
Haven, Hartford and Springfield Railroad, but resigned shortly 
after on account of the increasing business of the firm. Mr. Stone 
had invested $40,000 in the Howe patent, but on applying it prac- 
tically numerous defects were found, and it began to look as if the 
money invested in it would prove to be a dead loss ; but posses- 
sing considerable inventive genius himself, Mr. Stone applied him- 
self to remedy these defects, and so improved upon the original 
patent, that " Howe's Truss Bridge " has remained in favor ever 
since, bringing handsome profits to Mr. Stone and his partners. 
Rapidity of construction was one of the characteristics of this firm 
in whatever they undertook. In 1846 the bridge at Enfield over 
the Connecticut was carried away in a storm ; the New Haven, 
Hartford and Springfield Railroad Company contracted with Mr. 
Stone for its reconstruction ; this bridge was a quarter of a mile in 
length, yet within forty days Mr. Stone had the work so near com- 
pletion that trains ran over it ; and the railroad company were so 
pleased with this promptitude that they presented the builder with 
a present of $1,000, as an acknowledgment of the great service 
he had rendered them, together with a set of complimentary reso- 
lutions on his energy. In 1847 Mr. Boody withdrew from the 
firm, Mr. Stone making successive business changes until 1848, 
when Messrs. Witt and Harback became partners, and this new 
firm contracted to build a railroad from Cleveland to Columbus, 
Ohio, agreeing to take part payment in stock of the Cleveland, 
Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company, which proved in the 
end an excellent investment. In 1850 Mr. Stone was elected to 
the Superintendency of this road, and also of the railroad from 



554 AM ASA STONE. 

Cleveland to Erie, resigning four years later on account of his 
health. The next railroad which he built was the Chicago and 
Milwaukee, and of this he was a director for many years; and was 
also President for several years of the Cleveland, Painesville and 
Ashtabula Railroad, and in 1873 was appointed Managing Director 
of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. He resigned 
this position two years later, not approving of the purchase of the 
"Nickel-Plate." He was for some time a Director of the James- 
town and Franklin Railroad. 

One would think that all these railroad interests would have 
sufficiently occupied Mr. Stone's mind: they were in fact but a 
minor portion of his business and financial interests. Indeed, 
during the latter years of his life he had disposed of much of his 
railroad stock, and had gone extensively into manufacturing. In 
1 861 he established a large woollen mill in Cleveland. He was 
at one time a large owner in the Standard Oil Company, had a 
controlling interest in the Chicago, Kansas City and Youngstown 
IronWorks; also large investments in the Forest City Varnish 
Company, the Hayden Brass Works at Elyria, and in the Union 
Iron and Steel Company of Chicago, of which his brother, Andrew 
B. Stone, was President. This company failed in February, 1883, 
at which time Mr. Stone held $220,000 of the bonds and stock, 
and $1,000,000 of mortgage notes for money loaned to the com- 
pany, which were a first lien on its assets. He was one of the 
original stockholders in the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
and always carried a large quantity of the stock. He was a 
Director of the Merchants' Bank of Cleveland, the Bank of Com- 
merce, the Cleveland Banking Company, and for several years 
President of the Toledo branch of the Old State Bank of Ohio. 

Mr. Stone had a good inventive faculty, and many very useful 
improvements, which he never took the trouble to patent, were 
made by him in the construction of cars and locomotives. One of 
the most difficult features in building is that of constructing roofs 
over large areas without obstructive supports; in this Mr. Stone 



AMASA STONE. 555 

excelled, and a fine specimen of this may be seen in the Union 
Passenger Station at Cleveland. It is claimed for him that he was 
the first person in this country to plan and construct a pivot draw- 
bridge of long span, together with many minor novelties in the 
railroading business. 

During the war President Lincoln offered him a commission as 
brigadier-general, for the purpose of enabling him to build a mili- 
tary railroad through Kentucky to Knoxville, Tennessee. This 
project was never carried out ; but that did not prevent Mr. Stone 
from giving Mr. Lincoln his warmest support, and actively engag- 
ing in the work of raising troops for the government: he had 
been long wishing for a respite from his numerous business com- 
binations, but was unwilling to leave the country until peace was 
restored. It was not until 1868 that he made the long considered 
trip to Europe for the benefit of his health ; but once there he re- 
mained abroad two years, travelling extensively, and returning 
much recruited, and ready for new enterprises. 

Mr. Stone had married, at about the age of thirty, Miss Julia A. 
Gleason, of Warren, Massachusetts. Of this marriage there were 
three children, a son and two daughters, and the great trial of Mr. 
Stone's life was the loss of this son in 1865 : he was a very prom- 
ising young man, and at the time of his death an under-graduate 
of Yale — being in the Sheffield Scientific School ; he with several 
others was making a geological and botanical excursion on the 
Connecticut river, when through some accident to the boat he was 
drowned — an irreparable loss, from the shock of which Mr. Stone 
never entirely recovered. To commemorate this son, Adelbert, 
as well as to advance the general cause of education in Ohio, Mr. 
Stone concluded several years ago to erect a memorial building 
in connection with some already established university, and he se- 
lected for this purpose the Western Reserve College, originally 
located at Hudson, Ohio. To this institution he offered the sum 
of $500,000 on two conditions, namely, that the faculty would re- 
move the college to Cleveland, and adopt the name of Adelbert 



556 AMASA STONE. 

College. This proposition, enticing as it was, required some con- 
sideration ; the Western Reserve College had already very ser- 
viceable buildings and grounds with a well-invested endowment of 
$200,000 ; it might not be easy to sell these buildings to advan- 
tage ; the name was still more of a stumbling-block ; the whole 
alumni of the Western Reserve took pride in their alma mater, 
and could not bear to see the name extinguished — this clause must 
evidently be compromised in some way. After careful deliberation 
the faculty decided in this way : to remove to Cleveland, and to 
appropriate part of Mr. Stone's donation to the erection of a col- 
lege hall to be called "Adelbert," but still retaining as their own 
the title of " Western Reserve University," of which "Adelbert 
College " should form an integral part. In fact Mr. Stone's 
money was employed in the erection of two buildings for the 
university, the largest of which is one hundred and forty-four by 
one hundred feet, and is built of three different shades of stone, 
producing a very fine effect. The citizens of Cleveland con- 
tributed $100,000 for the site, which is in a park-like section of the 
city near Lake View. Mr. Stone personally watched over the 
erection of the buildings ; these stand on the eastern extremity of 
Euclid avenue, about four miles from the business portion of the 
city. Mr. Stone made many other gifts ; in 1877 he built and en- 
dowed the Home for Aged and Indigent Women in Cleveland, and 
gave to the Children's Aid Society, of the same city, property 
valued at $50,000. He was for many years a trustee of the Pres- 
byterian church, which he attended. 

Mr. Stone's sudden demise by his own hand caused a great 
shock, not only to the community where he dwelt, but in commer- 
cial and financial circles from Chicago to Boston. He was inter- 
ested in so many business enterprises that his name wa*s known 
almost as well in New York as in Cleveland. The unthinking 
attributed the melancholy event to the large losses which he had 
sustained by several failures, especially that of the Chicago 
"Union Iron and Steel Company;" but it was no one event, and 



AMASA STONE. 557 

certainly not the mere loss of money, which produced the fatal 
despondency. The proximate cause was ill-health. He had 
suffered for years from dyspepsia and other complicated dis- 
orders, from which he had no rational prospect of relief. He still 
mourned his lost son, and the very fact that he watched so closely 
day by day the erection of "Adelbert College," shows that the lad 
was for many hours out of the twenty-four constantly in his mind ; 
then, Mr. Stone had ever prided himself on the thoroughness of 
his work, and the fact that " he owed no man anything." It will 
be recalled that he was the contractor who built the bridge at 
Ashtabula, Ohio, which fell some years since, from some unex- 
plained cause, with a train of cars, causing considerable loss of 
life ; the engineer committing suicide shortly after, in a very simi- 
lar manner to that adopted by Mr. Stone, although he was ex- 
onerated by the coroner's jury. This was another subject that 
weighed heavily on his mind ; and lastly came the failures of sev- 
eral manufacturing companies, in which he was not only largely 
interested himself, but in which he had influenced many of his 
friends to invest ; this touched his sense of honor deeply, and was 
the last addition to the cumulative burdens which oppressed him, 
but which his naturally sound mind would undoubtedly have 
thrown off, had not the demon of dyspepsia sat like an incubus 
upon all hopes of ever recovering a tolerable state of physical 
comfort. 

On the morning of the fatal day, as for several before, Mr. 
Stone had appeared exceedingly depressed, and did not arise 
at the usual hour ; at 1 1 a. m. he got up, but complained of not 
feeling well, and in a couple of hours again retired to his room, 
saying he would endeavor to get a nap ; as he had suffered greatly 
from insomnia the family were careful not to disturb him, and it 
was not until about four o'clock that his wife, becoming uneasy, 
went to see if he was up ; not finding him in the chamber, she con- 
cluded he was taking a bath in the adjoining room, the door of 
which was locked ; knocking and calling she received no response, 



558 AM AS A STONE. 

and then became alarmed, thinking he had fainted. Summoning 
the butler to her aid, he climbed through the transom, and then 
Mr. Stone was discovered sitting, half dressed, in the bath-tub, 
with a bullet-hole in his breast, while close by, on the floor, lay a 
small silver-plated Smith & Wesson revolver, with one barrel 
empty. Death had probably been instantaneous, as there was no 
facial or other sign of struggle. The pistol-shot had not been 
heard by any one in the house. Mr. Stone left a widow and two 
daughters, both married : one to Colonel John Hay, ex- Assistant 
Secretary of State. Mr. and Mrs. Hay were on their way home 
from Europe at the time of Mr. Stone's death. Colonel Hay and 
the other son-in-law, Mr. Samuel Mather, were made executors of 
Mr. Stone's will without bonds. We notice these executors par- 
ticularly because of their honorable action in carrying out the 
known wishes of their father-in-law, even where they were not 
legally bound to do so, and by omitting which, they might have 
personally profited. According to a statute in Ohio, bequests to 
public institutions are void in law, unless the will has been made 
a full year before the death of the testator ; as Mr. Stone's will had 
not been drawn that length of time, all his bequests to public in- 
stitutions were invalidated by his own rash act ; these executors, 
however, with the full consent of the surviving members of his 
family, concludec} to disregard this inhibitive clause, and divide the 
estate according to the known wishes of the deceased ; and in a 
spirit of great liberality, instead of enforcing the lien of $1,000,000 
which Mr. Stone held against the "Union Iron & Steel Com- 
pany," the family concelled the whole indebtedness of the com- 
pany to the decedent, $1,220,000, only stipulating that the 
company should pay off some $800,000 in notes, of which 
Messrs. Amasa Stone and his brother, Andrew B. Stone, were 
joint indorsers. This voluntary relinquishment of nearly half 
a million dollars, to save the firm from ruin, shows the gener- 
ous and noble nature of all the surviving family concerned in 
the transaction. 



AM ASA STONE. 559 

By the will the beautiful homestead on Euclid avenue, with 
all its appurtenances, was left to the widow ; the other prop- 
erty, after the payment of certain bequests, was divided be- 
tween her and his two daughters. Of these bequests there was, 
to relatives, the sum, in all, of $109,000. To Adelbert College, 
$100,000; to the Home for Aged Women, $10,000, and to 
the Children's Aid Society, $10,000. His estate has been 
variously estimated at from $6,000,000 to $10,000,000, and 
everything was settled by the honest and able executors in 
three weeks. Mr. Stone was very reticent as to the amount of 
his property, and probably no one knew its exact amount until 
after his death. 



AARON A. SARGENT. 

No foreign minister, not even excepting our Poet-Minister to St. 
James, James Russell Lowell, has attracted more attention in his 
official position than Minister Sargent, whose diplomatic relations 
with Bismarck have been the subject of world-wide comment. It 
is needless in a sketch so brief as this to enter into any detailed 
account of the causes which led to the disturbances of their rela- 
tions, but let it suffice to say it was no fault of the American Min- 
ister, and his conduct throughout was satisfactory to his govern- 
ment, which tendered him the mission to St. Petersburg made vacant 
by reason of the death of Mr. Hunt. The trouble grew out of 
the resolutions adopted in Congress on the death of Herr Lasker, 
which Mr. Sargent in his official capacity had to present to the 
Court at Berlin. The course pursued by the State Department 
at Washington, in publishing Mr. Sargent's confidential communi- 
cations, was really the occasion of Prince Bismarck's wrath ; and 
his transfer to St. Petersburg, which is looked upon in diplomatic 
circles as a promotion, was a tacit apology by the government 
which was approved by the people of this country. 

Mr. Sargent was born at Newburyport, Massachusetts, Septem- 
ber 28, 1827, and in early life was a printer and editor. In 1849, 
when the gold fever was at its height, he went to California, and 
since that time has been looked upon as a Californian. He did 
not become a miner or a stock-dealer — having a stronger taste for 
the law. Perhaps he saw a better opening in the new El Dorado 
for lawyers than for miners, since there were so many of the latter, 
and a strong likelihood of much litigation when the great fortunes 
which were being so rapidly acquired should require to be divided 
among partners or heirs to estates. 
(560) 




AARON A. SARGENT. 



AARON A. SARGENT. 561 

He was admitted to the bar in 1854, and a year later was elected 
district-attorney of Nevada county. This was his stepping-stone 
to fortune. He was a good lawyer but a better politician, and his 
ambition was to represent California in Congress. The College 
of California bestowed upon the aspiring young lawyer the degree 
of M. A., and in i860, after years of preparation for the oppor- 
tunity that came, he was elected Representative from that State to 
the Thirty-seventh Congress as a Republican. He served until 
March, 1863. Returning to California he was elected to the Forty- 
first, and was re-elected to the Forty-second Congress, receiving 
18,065 votes against 15,378 for J. W. Cofforth, Democrat. His 
long term of service as United States Senator, which began 
shortly after his retirement from the House of Representatives, 
lasted until 1879. 

His course was not always satisfactory to his constituents, and 
he was burned in effigy in San Francisco on one occasion, re- 
ceiving the sobriquet of " Effigy Sargent," which attached to his 
name for some years. Mr. Sargent's public career covers the 
most important years of the last half century, and his history as a 
Congressman is allied to those great war measures and subse- 
quent acts of reconstruction, which were in many instances so 
fiercely denounced at the time. During the administrations of 
President Grant he was one of the most prominent men in Con- 
gress, and is a man of extended culture and fine social tact. 

During his residence in Berlin he has displayed those qualities, 
which entirely satisfied his government, and his attitude in the one 
or two instances where he has had to cross the path of Prince Bis- 
marck, as, for instances, the Lasker case and the prohibition of 
American pork in Germany, he has maintained his position ad- 
mirably, and has reflected credit upon the country he .represents. 
The New York Tribune, in commenting upon the efforts of the 
German press to have him removed, says : 

"The charges of German government organs, to the effect that 
he is not fitted by education and social culture for the position he 
36 



562 AARON A. SARGENT. 

holds, are manifestly frivolous and baseless. Mr. Sargent has 
been a Representative in Congress and a United States Senator. 
He has for many years occupied an honorable and even distin- 
guished position at Washington. He was a man of mark both in 
the House and in the Senate, and is well known in his own coun- 
try as an educated gentleman, and as an energetic, laborious and 
faithful public officer." 

Mr. Sargent is in the prime of life, and a millionaire who has 
been a credit to the fame of the rich men of California in main- 
taining the princely style of these moneyed kings in Washington 
and elsewhere. His residence in California is an elegant abode, 
little occupied in past years by its distinguished owner. 



DR. HUGH GLENN. 

Dr. Hugh Glenn was at one time the largest wheat-grower on 
the Pacific side of the continent, and consequently the largest any- 
where in the United States ; he was born in Virginia, but early in 
life was removed to Northern Missouri, living part of the time in 
Paris and part at Shelbina ; he graduated from a medical college, 
and received his title of M. D., but never entered upon the prac- 
tice of medicine; the Mexican war breaking out its attractions 
proved greater than those of the pill-box ; he entered heartily into 
that contest, and it is said did the State some service. Not long 
after the close of the war the California gold discoveries drew the 
eyes of many soldiers of fortune in that direction, Dr. Glenn 
among others ; but he did not go to the mines, as he thought he 
saw quite as much money in other occupations. His first venture 
was the establishment of freighting teams between Idaho and 
Sacramento ; this was very toilsome work for the actual drivers ; 
part of the way these teams had to make their own roads ; but it 
proved profitable, this being the only way in which goods could be 
conveyed by inland travel. Horses could not stand the work for 
any great length of time, and Dr. Glenn made a trip to the States 
and bought large numbers of mules ; these were divided into droves 
of manageable size and driven overland to the Sacramento valley. 
It was the possession of these animals that first suggested to him 
the possibility of employing them in farming. 

Dr. Glenn had a partner in the mule business, and together 
they hired a large section of land in Yolo county to pasture the 
mules on during the winter. On a close examination of their 
lease, which appears to have been somewhat carelessly drawn, they 
found there was no legal restriction in their way to the planting of 

(563) 



564 DR. HUGH GLENN. 

grain, and with the aid of these mules they commenced ploughing 
up the pasture and sowing wheat ; the owner objected to this use 
of the land, but he had no legal remedy; so in spite of his opposi- 
tion a fine crop of wheat was raised, which proved a very profitable 
operation. The lease having expired Dr. Glenn removed to Colusa 
county and bought 640 acres, which became eventually a portion 
of the famous "Glenn farm." This purchase was made in 1868, 
and at that time the lands in that vicinity, though of the best 
quality for farming purposes, could be bought very low, and he 
was not the man to miss his opportunities. About a year later 
he bought 3,000 for $3 per acre, on which he kept one thousand 
head of sheep and five hundred hogs. Soon land began to rise 
in value all over the State; mining had become a secondary in- 
terest; the introduction of costly machinery was every day con- 
centrating the mining interests more and more in the hands of 
capitalists, and general attention was directed to the great facili- 
ties offered by the alluvial lands of the Sacramento valley for the 
raising of wheat. 

Dr. Glenn's mode of procedure was simple but effectual for 
the increase of his property ; he would mortgage one parcel of 
land to get the means to buy another, and so on, repeating the 
process until he owned or controlled all the river bank from St. 
John's to Princeton, a distance of twenty miles, and stretching five 
miles back into the interior. In 1870 the outbreak of the Franco- 
Prussian war came to the aid of his speculations, for it sent up 
the price of wheat to unprecedented figures in that region ($1.28 
per bushel). The next year he made an extraordinarily fortunate 
speculation in Another direction. A neighboring ranchman, a Mr. 
Walsh, died ; his cattle were sold at an executor's sale at very low 
prices ; Dr. Glenn bought some 300 of these, which he sent under 
the care of a herder into the region where northwest Nevada 
touches the southeastern part of Oregon ; this herder took the 
cattle on shares, Glenn to have the orieinal number of the stock 
kept good and half the increase ; the herder was to pay for the 



DR. HUGrf GLENN. 565 

pasture and other expenses for the other half of the increase. 
Nature seems to have modified her laws to favor this copartner- 
ship, for two or three years before Glenn sent these cattle out of 
the State the winters in the region selected for pasturage had been 
very hard, so that a large part of the stock had been lost through 
cold and insufficient nourishment ; but that was the end of the 
bad winters, and Glenn's cattle throve and increased wonderfully, 
not only in numbers but in price : for an animal for which he had 
paid $10 or $15 by the time he was ready to sell the surplus 
brought from $30 to $40, and before his death rose to $60. His 
original investment was about $3,000. Since then he has several 
times sold in one year to the value of $60,000, without injuriously 
reducing his stock. In California Dr. Glenn's reputation was 
founded on his stock-raising more than on his wheat-growing; 
beside the beef cattle, he had 30,000 sheep. 

Though not reckoned a particularly good farmer, like his near 
neighbor, Mr. Thomas L. Knock, he was very sharp and close, 
and managed to make the most of his wheat by dispensing with 
middlemen ; he chartered ships, and shipped his grain on his own 
account, and his ambition was centred in his wheat-fields : he liked 
to be called " the greatest wheat-grower in the world." 

He could not limit his activities to one or two objects, and he 
managed so to combine his several enterprises that one helped the 
other. He raised wheat, beef-cattle, horses, mules, sheep, and 
hogs ; he kept a large hotel, a store, and a liquor saloon, and dis- 
counted checks at a good percentage ; though all these varied in- 
terests were financially profitable to him, they did not advance his 
political aspirations, nor were they beneficial to his laborers and 
other employes, of which he had a large number. On this im- 
mense Glenn farm there was a number of separate ranches, each 
having a head overseer, with two or three assistants and a gang 
of men. When the wages of these subordinates were due the 
superintendent, or " head boss " as he was called, instead of pay- 
ing them off in cash would give them an order on Glenn. Dr. 



566 DR. HUGH GLENN. 

Glenn, on receiving such an order, would accept it and draw a 
check payable in Sacramento (over a hundred miles away), though 
Glenn himself lived in Jacinto. So the whole process for a man 
to get his money was complicated and expensive, for it frequently 
happened that Glenn was out of town when a man came with his 
order, or if at home was " too busy " to attend immediately to a 
workman's application ; when thus detained it naturally followed 
that the man would go to Glenn's Hotel, or to the saloon to while 
away the time. It is easy to see that this system was ruinous for 
the workmen, even if the hotel proprietor was willing to cash the 
order, for, of course, he demanded "a consideration" — perhaps 
ten per cent. When it is considered that the pay-roll for his farm 
amounted to $500 per day, we can see the profit to be made in 
shaving notes for laborers. It was this system which caused his 
defeat when nominated for Governor of California: the news- 
papers made the most of it, and all the " labor party " went 
against him. 

The year before his death his most valuable wheat-field, the 
crop of which was estimated at $ 100,000, took fire and was 
utterly destroyed in two hours ; yet he lost no sleep over it, and 
no one meeting him casually would have guessed that he had 
just experienced a serious loss. Though he had so large a 
property he was always more or less in debt ; he never cared 
whether a mortgage was cleared off or not, and at one time it was 
rumored that he was insolvent ; but this was not the case, his 
seventy thousand acre cattle ranch in Oregon, stocked with thirty 
thousand head of cattle, was prolific as a gold mine, and that re- 
source never failed him. Take him all in ail he was a remarkable 
man. His sudden and tragical death, nearly two years ago, by the 
hand of a murderer, it is not necessary to comment upon here. 
His assassin believed himself to have been greatly injured by him ; 
but as the trial is not yet completed, nor all the facts known (No- 
vember, 1883), definite conclusions might prove unjust. The great 
wheat farm is carried on by Dr. Glenn's widow, the value of the 
crop being estimated the present year at #700,000. 



MARK HOPKINS. 

It is not infrequently asked, by people afraid that a landed aris- 
tocracy will be the outcome of the great fortunes now being 
made in this country, "What will eventually become of these mil- 
lions, now accumulated in a few hands ? " Already the answers 
are rolling up from various sections of the country, as one and 
another pass away and divide these great fortunes among sev- 
eral heirs. Mr. Mark Hopkins is one of these. He was of 
the old Massachusetts stock (to which the venerable Mark Hop- 
kins of Williams College belonged), his father removing from 
Great Barrington in 1806 to western New York, and again, in 1825, 
with a family of boys, to St. Clair, in Michigan, where he died 
when Mark was about sixteen. The lad had studied to good ad- 
vantage, and before he was of age commenced the practice of law 
in Lockport, New York. With the thousands who hurried to Cali- 
fornia in 1848-9 was young Mark ; leaving his law books and clients, 
if he had any, behind, he took out an assortment of goods, and 
opened a store in the mining regions in October, 1849. Like nearly 
all those who retained their health, and who went into trade in the 
early days of mining in California, Mr. Hopkins made money rap- 
idly, and in 1854 returned eastward to obtain a wife, marrying his 
cousin, a Miss Sherwood, of Berkshire county, in Massachusetts, 
and then returned to the Pacific coast. He now opened a hard- 
ware store in Sacramento : in this store some other matters were 
talked of besides hardware. Mr. Hopkins was an intelligent man 
and a politician, and his store became a rallying-point for the men 
of the Free-Soil party : there " slates were made " and " slates 
were broken " by this hardware dealer and his friends ; there funds 
were raised to start a Republican paper ; and there Senator Cole's 

(567) 



568 MARK HOPKINS. 

future was made ; and in fact Mark Hopkins was the nucleus 
around which gathered the leaders of the Republican party in 
California in 1856 and after. 

But Mr. Hopkins' politics did not interfere with his business in 
any other way than to aid it. He was one of those far-seeing peo- 
ple who realized the need of a closer and more rapid communica- 
tion with the East than the isthmus and water routes could afford. 
In his office was matured the first practical plan for the building 
of the Central Pacific Railroad, and when the company was organ- 
ized he became its treasurer, and so continued until the time of 
his death. Mrs. Hopkins, his widow, is set down among the 
wealthy people of California as the possessor of $50,000,000 ; the 
balance of the property went to his two brothers, Samuel F. and 
Moses, the latter being a bachelor. With the money left to Mr. 
Samuel F., he and his two sons have commenced a series of busi- 
ness enterprises in eastern Michigan, which have greatly benefited 
that section of the State, particularly in St. Clair where they 
reside, and all the adjacent country. Two large brick residences 
"on the hill" at St. Clair mark the residences of Mr. Samuel F. 
Hopkins and his son, Mark ; the other son, William S., occupies 
the Oakland Cottage, but is building a splendid residence on 
Woodward avenue. 

The fine hotel, the " Oakland," was started with a stock com- 
pany, but this enterprise would have come to grief had not the 
Hopkins put in their money, and made the hotel and sanitarium 
first-class, and thus made it a source of benefit to the city by 
attracting strangers to the locality, who often eventually became 
permanent residents. Young Mr. Mark H. owns nearly the whole 
of the Riverside driving park, a half-mile track, with suitable 
stables ; his own horses are among the finest in Michigan ; he also 
owns a steam-yacht which cost $40,000, claimed to be the fastest 
on American waters. Both the brothers are largely interested in 
woollen mills, which employ a large number of hands. One of the 
handsomest churches in the State, the " New Congregational 



MARK HOPKINS. 569 

Church " at St. Clair, is more largely indebted, financially, to the 
Hopkins family than to any others, for its elegant finish and beau- 
tiful decorations ; they also gave their money freely for a splendid 
pavement which is laid the whole distance from Somerville to 
" the Oakland." 

While part of this great fortune is building up eastern Michigan, 
Mrs. Hopkins has been generously scattering a portion of her 
share in her native town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. 
Having bought up the old homestead, and renovated everything 
about the place, spending about $100,000 upon it, and another 
$10,000 on the cemetery lot, she gave $10,000 towards rebuilding 
the old Congregational Church, and $90,000 to build a parsonage, 
while her adopted son, Mr. Timothy Hopkins, now Treasurer of 
the Central Pacific Railroad, gave $35,000 for an organ for this 
same church. Thus we see in this case the beginning of that dis- 
integration of a large fortune which may be expected in many 
others ; the exceptions being where the bulk of the property is 
confided to one person, as in the great Vanderbilt and Astor 
estates. 



JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR. 

No one who has lived in New York city during the last quarter 
of a century or longer, would scarcely be able to conceive of the 
metropolis without a James Gordon Bennett — and the Herald, 
which he established ; one might as well attempt to think of Eng- 
lish literature without Dickens, or of French dramatists without; 
Moliere. This feeling, that the Herald, which was practically Ben- 
nett, was an essential part of the common life of the great city, did 
not arise from any overwhelming sense of its value as a leader of 
thought, but from various other circumstances. But there was 
one characteristic which always made the mouth-piece of the elder 
Bennett sought for by many classes of persons, and that was its 
value as an indicator of public opinion: it always reflected like a 
mirror either what the majority thought to-day, or what they were 
likely to think to-morrow — not necessarily what they ought to 
think either to-day or to-morrow. 

James Gordon Bennett was born at a small place called New 
Mill, near the township of Keith, in Banffshire, Scotland ; his family 
belonged to the old loyal Catholic race which fought for the 
Stuarts, some of them losing life and estate in the long struggle 
for their native kings ; the clan Gordon, to which a maternal 
ancestor belonged, furnishing the middle name of the present and 
late editor of the Herald. Young James was born at just about 
the same time as the nineteenth century, on which he left such 
graphic marks in the field of journalism ; part of his family were, 
by intermarriage, of French blood, and by a relative of this 
nationality he was brought up. 

Just about the time when it became necessary for young Ben- 
nett to select a vocation an edition of "Benjamin Franklin's Auto- 
(57o) 




JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR. 



JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR. 571 

biography" was published in Edinburgh, and to this fact New York 
is probably indebted for the arrival there of James G. Bennett a 
few years later. He was much taken with this volume, the spirit 
of which accorded so well with the thrifty Scotch side of his nature. 
At this time he was about seventeen years of age, healthy, hopeful 
and industrious. Since reading Franklin his thoughts had been 
irresistibly drawn towards America, but it was not until he was 
nearing his twentieth year that he was enabled to carry out his 
project. He then took passage for Halifax ; he had no friends 
there, nor elsewhere on this continent, and but little money — some 
twenty-five dollars left after his passage was paid. Travelling 
down the coast to Portland, he there took passage on a coaster for 
Boston, which was impressed upon his imagination as the birth- 
place of his new ideal — Franklin. But Boston, all unconscious of 
the man it was repelling, had no work to give him. Day after day 
he wandered, making application for various sorts of employment, 
and at last, having spent his last penny, he was reduced to abso- 
lute want ; for two days he was unable to buy food, and then, for- 
tunately, on the third morning, while walking early through the 
Common, he found a shilling (a Massachusetts shilling was then 
i6y 3 cents); with this he was able to buy a meal, and shortly after 
this adventure he obtained employment in Wells & Lilly's book- 
store. 

In 1822 he went to New York and obtained some temporary 
employment in a newspaper office, but, being invited by the pro- 
prietor of the Charleston Courier to take the position of assistant- 
manager, he accepted and went to South Carolina. In this office 
he found use for his knowledge of Spanish, the Courier having 
some correspondents in Cuba and elsewhere who sent their letters, 
and sometimes advertisements, in that language ; however, he did 
not remain long in Charleston, returning to New York after a few 
months' experience in the sunny South. Once more in the me- 
tropolis, he returned to his original idea of teaching, and issued 
circulars, in a somewhat grandiloquent style, proposing to estab- 



572 JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR. 

lish a " permanent commercial school," to be located in Fulton 
street, on the west side of Broadway. He obtained a few scholars, 
but scarcely enough to pay the rent ; the school scheme was given 
up. His next move was to give a course of lectures on political 
economy ; but few people care to listen to such subjects except 
when given by experienced men of popular reputation, and the 
young, unknown Scotchman scarcely drew a corporal's guard to 
listen to his very useful but exceedingly dry subject. These lec- 
tures were given in the old Dutch church which once stood on Ann 
street, not far removed from the present site of the Herald build- 
ing. Looking at his empty exchequer, at the close of these leer 
tures, the James Gordon Bennett of twenty-five could scarcely 
have seen then, even in his mind's eye, the massive pile of marble 
which he would one day call his own, almost within a stone's 
throw of the empty benches before him. But it is not the easily 
discouraged who build marble palaces. 

Once again he is forced to turn general utility man in a news- 
paper office ; but it is certain that he must have had miserable 
pay, for, though he was economical, saving, and had none of those 
habits called little vices — smoking, drinking, chewing— which un- 
awares run away with so much money, though he was abstemious 
in eating and dressed plainly, he could save but little. 

In 1828, during the first Jackson campaign, Mr. Bennett espoused 
that side of politics, and was employed in the office of the Courier 
and Enquirer, then a leading commercial and Democratic paper — 
a morning daily — to which was first applied the term of "blanket 
sheet," on account of its size. It is claimed by some of Mr. Ben- 
nett's biographers that " he never had any principles," yet it hap- 
pened that when the proprietor of this paper abandoned his life- 
long principles and sold his influence out to Nicholas Biddle, 
swinging clean round from Jacksonism to the support of the Na- 
tional Bank, that Mr. Bennett, unable to tolerate such treachery, 
gave up his position on the Courier, and, stung to anger at the 
course of his late chief, started a small paper in support of his 



JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR. 573 

principles, devoted to Jackson and his successor, Van Buren. This 
paper was called the Globe, and was, very naturally, short-lived, 
because its editor and proprietor had too little capital to run a 
party organ without the support of the party it sustained, the 
leaders naturally preferring to bestow their favors on old-estab- 
lished papers. 

Fancying that Pennsylvania politicians might prove more grate- 
ful, Mr. Bennett transferred himself and his hopes to Philadelphia, 
where he started another Democratic paper called the Pennsyl- 
vania. Martin Van Buren was now looming up as the candidate 
who was to follow his predecessor, and it is believed that Mr. 
Bennett applied to him for a temporary loan to establish his paper, 
but this proposition was declined, and the project abandoned. At 
that period all papers were allied to one party or the other ; inde- 
pendent journalism was unknown ; the trammels of party lines 
were equally thrown over the little insignificant country weekly as 
over the wealthiest daily of the metropolis. James Gordon Ben- 
nett decided to take a new departure. Abandoning all the old 
conventionalities which sat like iron-bound customs upon the 
daily press, freeing himself at one bound from all party trammels 
and limitations, he decided to inaugurate a free newspaper — this, 
of course, if it could succeed anywhere, must succeed in New York. 
Leaving Philadelphia he returned to the metropolis, and being 
very short of funds, hired a cellar in Wall street, which was to 
serve as his office of publication. This was not fitted up very 
luxuriously. A desk was improvised with the aid of two barrels 
and a plank, one end of which also served for a counter; one chair 
and an inkstand, in which was a good goose quill, completed the 
furniture ; the lord of this luxurious establishment had persuaded 
a young firm of printers to set up the matter and do the press- 
work. Mr. Bennett was not only editor and proprietor of this 
promising outlay, but also reporter, messenger, cashier and sales- 
man, bookkeeper and office-boy for the concern ; one hour writing 
short, snapping editorials, then a spicy paragraph or joke, then 



574 JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR. 

rushing out to get accounts of foreign arrivals, or to learn the state 
of affairs in Wall street, hurrying back to make up copy for the 
compositors, working from sixteen to eighteen hours a day — his 
fine constitution and temperate habits enabling him to bear this 
toil without apparent injury. And thus the Morning Hej'ald was 
born. The first number appeared on the 6th of May, 1835, "price 
one cent." This low price, however, was not the first innovation 
on the "respectable dailies" (price sixpence), for the Sun had 
already been established two years. 

Until the penny papers started, there were none sold on the 
streets, and very few printed above the number necessary to sup- 
ply subscribers and exchanges. If one wished to obtain a single 
copy, it was necessary to go to the office of publication to buy. 
There was no such thing as a news-stand in the city. Like many 
of our successful men, Mr. Bennett had made several failures 
before he struck upon the particular line in which he was to make 
his grand success. 

The first issues of the Herald were necessarily somewhat defi- 
cient in matter of the stately sort, as one head and one pair of 
hands had to do everything, and no person, however active, can 
be ubiquitous ; but it is astonishing what a variety appeared in 
those little sheets, and at least there was nothing stale, verbose or 
dull ; everything was fresh, piquant, and a perfect contrast to the 
old party papers. In the matter of advertisements even, there 
was a brisk, metallic ring, unknown to such edifying papers as the 
Post and the Commercial, for Mr. Bennett often wrote these himself 
for the advertiser ; and if the tone of the Herald was not always 
adjusted to the cultured taste, it was always crisp and pungent, 
and having bought one paper, people usually came back asking 
for more. Having no " time-honored consistency " to hamper 
him, he was free to seize upon every topic of interest, and handle 
it in a fresh, unconventional style, which was a certain relief from 
the elaborate editorial of the "six-pennies," of which subscribers 
knew the purport without reading, because of this very same con- 



JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR. 575 

sistency which they were bound to maintain. People found fault 
very freely with the new paper sometimes, for what they called its 
coarseness or lack of decorum, but they kept on buying the paper 
all the same, and as long as they did that, it mattered little to 
James Gordon Bennett how much they abused him. More than 
any other editor extant he had the tact of picking up and briefly 
commenting upon those very topics which most interested the ma- 
jority of the people. 

Just as soon as the revenues of the office permitted, Mr. Bennett 
hired an assistant in the shape of a police reporter, who henceforth 
relieved him of the unpleasant duty of hovering about the police 
courts to pick up items. But now occurred the usual fate of 
nearly all New York enterprises before the introduction of Croton 
water: a fire broke out which consumed the Herald office, and 
though by almost superhuman efforts he " raked," as he used to 
say, " the Herald out of the fire," it was a serious drawback for 
him, but rallying from this he soon re-established himself, the 
Herald all the time increasing in circulation, when a few months 
later occurred the "great fire " of New York, which swept away a 
large portion of the business section of the city. This, which was 
a great calamity to so many, was really a benefit to Mr. Bennett. 
It gave him the opportunity to show his superior enterprise over 
all contemporaries. He did not intrust this affair to any reporter, 
but went himself to the fire ; observed, made his notes, picked up 
all sorts of facts about the firms destroyed, the gallantry of the 
firemen, and whatever of terror and of interest a great conflagra- 
tion can present. This he wrote up for his paper in such graphic 
style, so vividly picturing the whole scene, that copies of the 
"Herald account of the fire" was in every hand before the paper 
on which it was printed had time to dry. Then, in addition, he 
went to the extraordinary expense, such as was not dreamed of 
then by the daily papers, of producing a map of the burnt district, 
and a picture of the burning Exchange: this gave a stimulus to 
the paper which never from that time has encountered a receding 
wave. 



576 JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR. 

The Herald is now, and has been for years, the great advertising 
medium of the general public. Specialists may seek other vehi- 
cles for reaching particular classes of persons, but no paper pub- 
lishes as many advertisements in any given period as does the 
Herald. 

At the end of fifteen months from the date of its first issue the 
Herald was so well established that Mr. Bennett ventured to raise 
the price to two cents — somewhat improving its size and general 
appearance. This change was approved by the public ; subscribers 
increased ; new enterprises were undertaken by the management, 
and though the Herald has never been without bitter enemies, the 
time had past for any of them to hope that it could be driven from 
its intrenchments. Other papers which had sprung up in time 
made special points of rivalry with the Herald, and had their fol- 
lowers, friends, and constituencies, but none of them succeeded in 
producing such a variety of news, with the same degree of prompt- 
ness, as the Herald. Soon its correspondents appeared in every 
place and at every time, when anything of interest was to be seen 
or heard. In fact it would be difficult to tell in what it did not lead 
the way as a collector and disseminator of news. The Herald is 
the only paper which has ever established a sea-going yachting 
system for the early reception of foreign mails. 

During the war the "Herald correspondent " seemed ubiquitous 
— no skirmish could take place anywhere but all the details were 
directly forwarded by some writer in the pay of the Herald. 
Herald correspondents accompanied every general on the land, 
and every admiral and commander on the water ; prison life, camp 
life, the garrison, and the bowels of the Monitor, seemed equally 
to be the abiding-place of a Herald correspondent : other papers 
often gave graphic reports, but they were few indeed in which the 
writer did not betray some political bias. Those who wished to 
know the simple facts lucidly set forth by able pens, without spe- 
cial theories about slavery or anti-slavery, "had to buy a Herald." 
Herald extras were issued without stint, and the " interviewer " 
was abroad in the land. 



JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR. 577 

No paper in the United States approximates the Herald in the 
expense it incurs for procuring news from foreign parts. The 
London Times spends a great deal in this way ; yet during the 
war in Abyssinia the Herald correspondent with the English army 
sent the first news of the campaign to England, and, of course, 
the earliest received in the United States. 

On one occasion, when the Herald wished to obtain an impor- 
tant speech from Washington in advance of its rivals, and for the 
sake of getting possession of the wires, and holding them till its 
correspondent was ready to transmit the speech, Mr. Bennett 
ordered the operator in Washington to telegraph the first chapter 
of Genesis, and after that to keep on through the whole Bible if 
it was necessary to fill up time, but not to take any other message 
till the speech came. These coups de force might look like reckless 
extravagance, but they paid in the end. 

After the Herald became well established — yielding a business 
of $25,000 per annum — Mr. Bennett married a lady named Hen- 
rietta Agnes Crean, on which occasion he published an editorial 
announcement of the fact in a card addressed to the public of a 
most grotesque nature, and highly eulogistic of the lady, but which 
was certainly not calculated to gratify any woman of refined taste. 
However, everything of this kind made the Herald more talked 
of, and added to the receipts at the desk. Of this marriage there 
were two children, the present James Gordon Bennett, and a 
daughter, now Mrs. Jeanette Bell. 

For a long series of years the Herald office was on the corner 
of Nassau and Fulton streets; but in 1856-7 the present impos- 
ing structure of marble and iron was erected on the corner of 
Broadway and Ann street, which has been graphically designated 
as the very " eye of New York," and here the successor of the 
little penny Herald of 1835, of four pages, a few inches wide, is 
issued — a splendid sheet of from twelve to sixteen pages, frequently 
containing ninety-six and occasionally more columns of reading 
matter and carefully classified advertisements. 
37 



578 JAMES GORDON BENNETT, SR. 

It is quite a mistake, as some paragraphists have asserted, that 
Mr. Bennett was harsh or disagreeable in his manners ; that he 
could be, if occasion called for it, there is no doubt, but there are 
still living a cloud of witnesses, old reporters, sub-editors, and all 
classes of people, who say" the old man always treated them well;" 
indeed, his habit was to be courteous, unless there was reason for 
being otherwise, though naturally a little guarded in manner 
towards strangers. The large number of employes who grew old 
in his service is sufficient proof that he was a just and oftentimes 
a generous man. Mr. Bennett died in 1872, but, so far as the 
public were concerned, or the interests of the Herald affected, un- 
less the announcement were made, there were few outside the cir- 
cle of his personal friends who would have been aware of the fact ; 
so perfectly was the daily routine of the management of the paper 
understood by all concerned, and so able a body of sub-editors 
and reporters always on hand, with a superintending chief to direct 
the movements of the whole corps of employes, that not the slight- 
est hitch occurred; the Herald went on its way, under the new 
regime, without shortening sail or perceptibly tacking on its course. 
"The king is dead, long live the king," is all that the people, or 
most of them, cared to know. Mr. Bennett had very strong per- 
sonal friends, whom he buckled to his heart " with hooks of steel," 
but he had no large personal following like Horace Greeley, and 
even among the subscribers, who had taken the Herald ever since 
its first publication, there was none of that personal enthusiasm 
for the editor which was a marked feature of the readers of the 
Tribune ; they could not do without the Herald, but they could do 
without any one person connected with it; hence there was none 
of that public demonstration of sorrow over Mr. Bennett's death 
which followed Horace Greeley to his last resting-place ; neither 
was there any remarkable enthusiasm manifested when it was 
known that the " heir apparent " would succeed to the vacant 
throne. The general feeling was, that " the Herald would go on," 
and that was all, but this feeling changed after a. time. 




JAMES GORDON BENNETT. JR. 



JAMES GORDON BENNETT, JR. 

In the old historic Herald building, in Nassau street, the elder 
Bennett laid the foundation for his great fortune, and brought 
through childhood and adolescence to virile strength and majesty 
a journal which, as a property, is unequalled ; and in the new build- 
ing the son continues the effort, and formulates in spirit, if not in 
bodily presence, plans for newspaper work and warfare, which for 
boldness and breadth of view as well as actual scientific, historical, 
ethnological value, have seldom been equalled. 

Mr. Bennett's largest work has been outside of his newspaper, 
but he has used that as a vehicle through which to inform the pub- 
lic of his enterprises. With well-considered temerity he sent 
Henry M. Stanley into the unexplored wilds of Africa to find 
Livingstone, simply telegraphing him : " Find Livingstone. Yours, 
Bennett." Conceiving the idea, he ordered its execution with no 
hesitation regarding consequences or expense. This boldness of 
execution, waiting upon thought, is Mr. Bennett's chief character- 
istic, and it is such a spirit which leads men in other spheres to 
conquer empires and dethrone great kings. In finding Living- 
stone, Bennett has perhaps found and founded empires — for 
others — and opened up floods of fortune in the wilderness of the 
dark continent. The world was talking about Livingstone, specu- 
lating on his fate, placing him hopelessly in the long list of mys- 
terious disappearances and martyrs to missionary zeal. Bennett 
heard the talk, and deeming that the function of a newspaper was 
to provide news and for the solving of the people's doubts re- 
garding any solvable problem, he penned his telegram of " Find 
Livingstone." 

That Mr. Bennett is not merely moved by the unbridled desire 

(579) 



580 JAMES GORDON BENNETT, JR. 

for notoriety, which is the failing of so many men, is proved by the 
fact that all of his projects, however wild and unheard of they at 
first appear, always redound to the greater honor, glory and pecu- 
niary advantage of the New York Herald. This wise policy in- 
duces him to establish bureaus of information, not only at home 
but also abroad, that furnish news to his paper, it is true, but also 
incalculably benefit and aid the masters of our merchant marine. 
The Herald meteorological service is to-day as much appreciated 
in London or Norway as it is here. This is not the doing of a 
mere selfish notoriety-seeker. But one result of this policy is that 
the paper is found everywhere. 

Napoleonic in decision of character and magnitude of operations, 
the editor of the Herald is very unlike the French conqueror in 
his contempt for personal meddling with detail ; he is of the type 
of the fabled Aladdin. He wills, he orders, and further disquiets 
himself not a whit, for he knows his orders will be obeyed. He 
need never fret for the possible errors of a Grouchy. And yet, as 
to his paper, or papers, for we must not forget the roseate Tele- 
gram, which he established to try his youthful pinions withal, 
while his father was yet alive, he is practically omniscient. 

The unknown pole, pointing its icy finger to the sky in the des- 
olate Northland, or perchance lapped with summer flowers in the 
midst of a beautiful undiscovered sea, does not deter him. Its 
inaccessible reserve, guarded by huge barriers of ice, is not distant 
or formidable enough to pale the fierceness of his intention to seize 
the knowledge of the unknown, that he may repeat it in the ears 
of a wondering world. The story of the "Jeannette" expedition 
is one of the most thrilling chapters in the history of the Herald, 
and of itself alone would have made its fame. 

A slight quarrel with the telegraph company, who either do not 
send his messages quickly enough or improperly supervise them, 
is sufficient to induce him to entertain the project of laying a cable 
for himself, a private wire along the silent deeps of the vast throb- 
bing ocean that covers lost Atlantis. A few months more will see 



JAMES GORDON BENNETT, JR. 58 1 

the completion of this last vast undertaking, engaged in with prosaic 
calm, and yet, when the first attempt to lay a cable, in 1850, was 
made, the pity and ridicule of the world were excited at the vision- 
ary scheme. Bennett is a visionary of the practical order. He 
sees what will do good to the Herald and secures it. 

When the panic struck New York in 1873, Bennett gave 
$30,000 for soup-kitchens, which were organized by Delmonico, 
and fed thousands. Large sums were also expended in the collec- 
tion of facts by a staff of special reporters who, night and day, ex- 
plored every hole and corner of the great city, and spread the 
results of their labors in the columns of the Herald. 

During the last famine in Ireland, the Herald subscribed $ioo r 
000, and raised as much more, which was then distributed by a 
special commission of experienced staff writers, who, day by day, 
cabled graphic stories of the destitution they relieved. And in 
the same way, when floods, famine, and disease have shaken sec- 
tions of this country to their centres, the example of prompt 
succor and stimulus to exertion was supplied by the unfailing re- 
sources and inexhaustible initiative of the Herald, which diligently 
and daily applied the spur to benevolence. 

The firemen adore the name of James Gordon Bennett, Jr., for 
to him they owe their proudest distinction, an annual gold medal 
to the bravest, elected by their own suffrages. The distribution 
of these medals is made a great occasion, and is attended by the 
most prominent of our citizens. 

When Cuba was in the throes of rebellion, a Herald reporter 
penetrated " Mambi-Land," and was locked up for months by the 
jealous rulers of the " Ever-faithful Isle." When the " Virginius" 
was captured, and American ships of war were sent to demand 
redress for the murder of American citizens, a Herald reporter, in 
spite of the efforts of the administration to keep all correspondents 
away from the scene but one favored scribe from a paper in close 
accord with it, signed articles on board the commodore's ship as 
ship's clerk, and sent home most stirring accounts of the proceed- 



582 JAMES GORDON BENNETT, JR. 

ings, which resulted in the release of a large remnant of the cap- 
tives. The same man had returned, within a week of starting for 
Cuba, from very near the Pole, and soon after was off to Central 
America with surveying parties, looking for the best routes to 
penetrate the link between North and South America. The inde- 
fatigable labors of such men are devoted to the furnishing forth 
the daily diet provided in the columns of the New York Herald. 

When Rochefort, the veneered Diogenes of Paris, passed through 
New York, after his escape from New Caledonia, the Herald sent 
a force of stenographers to take down an English translation of 
his fluent speech. It proved an impracticable task, and a long- 
hand synopsis was being handed in after the lecture by the inter- 
preter, when, by a diplomatic triumph, and at a cost of $5,000, the 
manuscript was brought in at midnight. Within half an hour, 
translators having been gathered in from highway and byway, the 
author of " Mambi-Land" presided at a meeting where pencils 
silently slashed away at lightning speed, translating the pages of 
the formidable document, rapidly editing them, and connecting the 
sentences of the severed sheets. The next morning the New 
York Herald had the exclusive report — in French and English — 
of Rochefort's speech. 

Whenever some event of absorbing interest takes place in Ger- 
many, or Spain, or China, the Herald invariably has its report 
printed not only in English, but in German, Spanish or Chinese, 
as the case may be. Its constituency is greatly widened by this, 
as in such special cases its news, collected and transmitted with 
absolute indifference to expense, is always full and accurate. 
Herald reporters recorded the chivalric outburst of a nation that 
conquered its ruler. When coronations or other grand scenes are 
going on anywhere, the fullest accounts are always in the Herald. 
Rival papers often sneer at the paper for this reason, and com- 
plain that it neglects the local and American news for the Eu- 
ropean. It has more of the latter, it is true, but scarcely to the 
detriment of the former. When the Duke of Edinburgh was 



JAMES GORDON BENNETT, JR. 583 

shot in Australia, it was printed in the Herald, and the news was 
then cabled to London from here. It had originally come 
through London from a Herald correspondent. In like manner 
the Herald, when laying full accounts before its readers here, 
was the source at second-hand of all the earliest information re- 
ceived by the British government during their own private and 
particular " little wars " in Abyssinia, Ashantee, and Affghanistan. 

The Herald from the first was published every day in the year, 
but has steadily eschewed the special Sunday paper notion. It 
rarely publishes poetry, and its infrequent " special " or sketchy 
articles on anything but news are of a practical tendency. 

Monarchs and prelates are among the contributors through in- 
terviewers, or sometimes directly with the Hei'ald, and there is 
scarcely a village on the globe where some one is not ready to 
cable an exclusive message to the paper on any startling occasion. 
In the United States and most parts of Europe two or more oc- 
casional correspondents are registered and graded according to 
ability. In the case of any sudden event one or more are sure to 
advise the paper, and in return orders are sent to them for " skel- 
eton " or full telegrams of all details. 

Ordinarily the paper " runs itself." It coins money, and yet so 
liberally is it dispensed that prophets of evil have been looking 
for results from this alleged waste unavailingly for years. The 
men drawing salaries and belonging to the very private and exclu- 
sive Herald club are very numerous, and the " outsiders," who 
each week share in the receipts, are innumerable. It may appear 
wasteful enough, this system, but the Herald evidently believes in 
the maxim, " in time of peace prepare for war." No emergency ever 
finds it unprepared, and its stallfed warriors respond to the bugle 
blast of duty like the retainers of a feudal lord, or the henchmen 
of a Highland chieftain. And the people know it. They may 
grumble, and often do, at having so many advertisements to throw 
away, but they somehow can't do without the paper, and when a 
murder occurs in Brooklyn, or a revolution breaks out in China, 



584 JAMES GORDON BENNETT, JR. 

every one takes the Herald, for they know that all the news that 
is procurable in any possible way is sure to be there. During the 
war the Herald printed the names of all wounded soldiers and 
sailors. To collect these alone promptly after a battle cost enor- 
mously ; but every one interested in those fighting in front bought 
the Herald, and the faith that there is never any excision for econ- 
omy remains unshaken. 

A bitter war has been made on the Herald for its reduction to 
two cents, and its ruin was predicted as sure to come at last by 
those whose wish was father to the thought. There is no doubt 
the opposition was formidable and unusually well organized ; but 
Bennett was not the man to falter. With indomitable will and 
perseverance he has organized a distributing machinery of his 
own, and while finding employment for hundreds of needy and 
deserving persons, has accommodated the public and kept the 
name of the Herald before them with characteristic energy. 

The income of the Herald has steadily advanced, and Mr. 
Bennett's fortune with it. His estate cannot be of less value 
than $6,000,000, and is probably more. He lives extravagantly ; 
his yachting tastes are very costly; his latest steam-yacht is a 
large sea-going vessel over two hundred feet in length, and is 
fitted up in the most luxurious style. It is lit with magnificent bril- 
liancy by one hundred and fifty electric lights, distributed through- 
out the different parts of the vessel. He is Commodore of the 
New York Yacht Club. 

Mr. Bennett is now about forty-five years of age, and still a bache- 
lor. Tall and broad-shouldered, but slighter built than his father, he 
is quick and supple in his motions, as those who have watched him 
in a game of polo must have recognized. He looks older than his 
years on account of his nearly white hair, which, however, has only 
taken on this wintry tinge quite recently. His features are 
marked, the nose prominent, and he wears a heavy gray mous- 
tache. 



JAMES R. KEENE. 

Mr. Keene, or, " the Tycoon," as he is familiarly called, is one 
of those natural financiers whose capacity to deal with large 
amounts and to circumvent the plots of his adversaries amounts 
to genius. Bred, as one might say, in the very atmosphere of 
metallic values, surrounded by millionaires whose daily talk was of 
gold and silver mines, whose existence seemed wrapped up in 
the rise and fall of mining stocks, there was everything in his 
environment to nourish the innate taste for speculation which he so 
early developed. Brought to California by his father in 1854, 
when he was only thirteen years of age, he for a short time was 
employed in a government office — a subordinate position in the 
quartermaster's department ; but this did not last long ; on his 
journey to California from London, his native place, he had heard 
constant talk of the immense fortunes made in the mines, and he 
very soon perceived, boy as he was, that there was no El Dorado 
for him in the routine of official life ; his brain was too active, 
and his desire to make money too great to be content with the 
small salaries paid by the War Department to its clerks. His 
first essay in another direction was to procure employment in a 
brokers office, where he became initiated into the vernacular of 
the Stock Exchange and learned something of its modus operandi. 
His next step in the millionaire's progress was to secure the agency 
of some large firms, and while doing well for his employers omitting 
no favorable opportunity to "take a flyer" for himself. Then, as 
a curb-stone broker, he worked his way along until his gains 
enabled him to buy a seat in the board. As a "free lance" he 
had been very reckless, but gradually learned wisdom by experi- 
ence and early rose to a commanding influence in the Stock Ex- 

(585) 



586 JAMES R. KEENE. . 

change. Unlike the earlier pioneers, he never soiled his hands 
with actual work in the mines, but did as paying a business by 
watching the market, buying and selling according to the rise or 
fall of mining and other stocks. There are three Stock Boards in 
San Francisco; the first of which was organized September i, 
1862 ; it was modeled after the New York Board, and called the 
" San Francisco Stock and Exchange Board." The " California 
Stock Exchange" followed in January, 1872. The necessity for a 
second board was demonstrated by the inability of the old board 
to deal with the increased amount of business which followed upon 
the " boom " given to mining stocks by the great success of the 
Crown Point and Belcher mines. This association was the only 
Stock Exchange which continued its daily sessions after the sus- 
pension of the Bank of California and the gloomy days that fol- 
lowed. Three years later, in April, 1875, a third Stock Board was 
organized under the name of the "Pacific Stock Exchange," and 
business enough was found to keep all busy, nor will this appear 
surprising when the great number of mines listed is considered. 
Four hundred and four " live " mines were quoted in the Mining 
Review for 1878 — too many it is evident for any one association 
to deal in. 

Here was material for a James R. Keene to revel in, and 
thoroughly did he master all the details ; he has been accused of 
getting up " corners" in more prime necessities of life than min- 
ing stocks — such as oil, coal and wheat, for though commencing 
his business career in mining stocks his operations have extended 
into very different fields. Like many others, Mr. Keene has 
abandoned the prolific fields of California, where his great fortune 
was made, and is now domiciled in New York. It is said that 
many of his friends in San Francisco anticipated the time when, 
having been thoroughly plucked by the birds of prey in Wall 
street, he would be forced to return to the golden haunts of his 
youth and begin again the struggle for wealth in San Francisco. 
Some of them even measured out the time, and prophesied that by 



JAMES R. KEENE. 587 

such or such a dare " Jim Keene would be back in 'Frisco look- 
ing for a job." But Mr. Keene has not yet gone back ; he has 
met in the arena of Broad street the " bulls " and " bears " of New 
York, but they have not even wounded him ; he holds his own 
with the most expert of the " Wall street crowd," and having safely 
passed his first degrees, is progressing rapidly to the Royal Arch, 
where sit the " railroad kings " in pleasant company ready to greet 
James R. Keene as a peer and brother. 

When the Senate Committee on " Corners " and " Futures " 
held their sessions recently in New York, Mr. Keene was invited 
to appear before them to give his views, and such facts as he 
chose on the subject, and of all the expert witnesses who testified 
before that committee Mr. Keene's replies were the clearest and 
most intelligible ; many of the experts persisted in giving such 
vague and indefinite answers that nothing could be learned from 
them ; Mr. Keene testified willingly, and withheld nothing except 
the names of individuals, though he submitted to an examination 
occupying two hours. He admitted having been a speculator 
for twenty years, showing that he must have commenced very 
young. One of the questions called out a piece of personal 
history quite germane to our subject, and we give the answer 
entire. 

Q. "A good deal has been said about the Keene corner in wheat, 
in 1879. We would like you to explain that to the committee." 
A. "Well that occurred so long ago that I have forgotten all 
about it. I have never engaged in a corner in my life ; never, sir. 
I suppose it is called the Keene corner because I was the central 
one in a company which owned at this time a large amount of 
wheat. But that combination was not formed for the purpose of 
cornering the market, but for defending certain persons against 
others who were bearing the market down. The syndicate dis- 
banded before the wheat they held was sold out. The members 
of that syndicate concluded that the price of wheat would be at a 
certain rate. They had calculated every contingency of home and 



588 JAMES R. KEENE. 

foreign demand. But a hue and cry of a corner was raised and 
circulated in the press ; consumption was withheld, and finally it 
compelled us to sell out at a loss. I think we held about twenty 
millions of bushels of wheat. Some of the syndicate got out, leav- 
ing two or three to bear the burden of the depression. It is not 
true that the syndicate refused to sell wheat during the corner. 
Wheat was sold all through the corner in large quantities. One 
reason that the wheat did not come to New York was because the 
price was lower in New York than in Chicago. Nobody was 
going to bring wheat here then. I do not think the consumer 
suffered much, as the corner was of short duration. Another rea- 
son why we could not bring the wheat to market was because the 
railroads charged too high freight ; it was exorbitant. It was prac- 
tically a corner in freight. If the freights had not been so large 
we should have moved our material. The present rates of rail- 
road transportation are far more disastrous than any corner in 
anything that comes to my mind at the present time. These rates 
make a corner, and they are arbitrarily fixed by Mr. Fink and other 
railroad men. The present rates are entirely out of proportion to 
the service that is given for them. It is an unnecessary tax on 
producers and consumers." 

Q. " How much greater are these rates of railroad transporta- 
tion than they should be?" A. "Twenty-five per cent, at least 
too high. They are arbitrary rates, and they of course increase 
the price of all products. They have a baneful effect upon all 
business. High rates always diminish export. I think the injury 
inflicted by corners is overestimated. I do not know what you 
mean by overspeculation." 

Dr. Boyd. — "All these speculations make money, don't they?" 
Mr. Keene. — "You have never been in Wall street, I judge." 
Another response of Mr. Keene may interest some of our read- 
ers who are not familiar with the modus operandi of some of our 
railroad and other corporations, Mr. Keene having given it as his 
experience that the only " corner " he had ever known which was 



JAMES R. KEENE. 589 

injurious to the community was one in coal; and, referring to the 
coal company concerned in it, said : " So much water has been put 
into the stock, that they had to advance the price of coal to exces- 
sive rates." 

Q. "What do you mean by water?" A. " Well, watering stock 
means increasing the capital without any equivalent. It also 
means the private purchase by persons inside the corporation of 
property at one valuation, and the sale of it to the corporation at 
a large advance." 

There is a good story told of Mr. Keene having inadvertently 
given away " points " in a manner not usual to careful financiers, 
and the story rests on sufficiently good authority to warrant its 
introduction here ; it was told, it is said, by Mr. Keene himself 
while dining with Mr. Samuel Ward, of New York. The discus- 
sion had been on the possibility or impossibility of a man's keep- 
ing stock operations secret until the moment for action arrived, 
when Mr. Keene remarked : " It is no matter how shrewd a man 
may be there is constantly some little unforeseen circumstance oc- 
curring which upsets all one's calculations." " How ? In what 
way?" asked one of the guests. "Well, like this, for instance: a 
few years ago I was doing a good deal in Lake Shore, and counted 
on making a big thing. Very shortly I discovered, however, that 
there was some influence in the market against me which I couldn't 
fathom ; it was not sufficient to counteract my plans, but it reduced 
the profits. It was evident that some one had a clue to my inten- 
tions in time to be beforehand with me." " Broker gave you 
away," suggested several in one breath. " No ; I never gave a 
broker the chance, never giving orders in advance ; besides I 
always forestalled that sort of thing with dummy orders. One 
day, as I stood at my window thinking over the mystery, I noticed 
an elegant coupe stop a little distance off. Should have thought 
nothing of it, had I not seen that a richly-dressed lady in it had 
with her a very poorly-dressed, shabby-looking girl. Presently 
the latter got out, went below and rang my basement-bell, and 



590 JAMES R. KEENE. 

evidently entered the house ; I rang for my man and inquired who 
the girl was. He answered that ' she came for the wash.' ' Does 
she generally come in a coupe?' I asked. 'Why, no, of coorse 
not ; her mother is rale poor,' was the answer. As my own car- 
riage had now come for me, I hastened out and got in; as we 
passed the coupe, which still remained in the same spot, I looked 
in, and was astounded to see the lady with some of the soiled 
clothes on her lap, evidently overlooking them, for some other 
than laundry purposes. At first the thought occurred to me that 
it was some one who hoped to find a stray diamond stud, or some- 
thing of that sort. I determined to find out what it meant; so I 
ordered my driver to keep the coupe in sight and follow it. We 
had not gone far when it was stopped at a brown-stone front on 
Twenty-ninth street; the girl got out with the bundle, which she 
took into the house, and the coupe with the lady turned round and 
went down-town ; they stopped before a broker's office in Wall 
street, where the lady alighted, and though she tried to conceal 
what she had with her, by her handkerchief I was convinced she 
had a lot of my shirt-cuffs in her hands." " Shirt-cuffs ! and what 
did she want of your shirt-cuffs?" burst from one and another of 
the listeners. "Well, you see," answered Mr. Keene, "I am, or 
rather was, in the habit, when away from my office, especially in 
the evening, of taking my pencil and putting down notes of what 
I intended to do in the morning on my cuffs, and by Jove if the 
woman hadn't been smart enough to make out my figuring, and 
had been coppering my game for over a year, and in eight months 
she had cleaned up over $600,000." General exclamations of 
astonishment broke in upon the narrator. " I guess you didn't 
make tablets of your cuffs after that?" "Just a few more — enough 
to rake in that woman's bank account, and put a mortgage on her 
fine house — that's all." 

Since Mr. Keene came to New York there have been many 
rumors of his insolvency, but without any foundation. It is sur- 
prising how quickly every little incident connected with these 



JAMES R. KEENE. 59 1 

popular financiers is seized upon by the curiosity-mongers, exag- 
gerated, and then, often utterly distorted, reaches the daily press 
and receives widespread circulation as truth, usually to be contra- 
dicted in a few days. In the spring of 1883 Mr. Keene saw fit to 
sell one of his well-known and valuable paintings, or, rather, the 
agent whom he employed to try and sell pictures for him disposed 
of a Rosa Bonheur, at what was thought a low figure, to Mr. Jay 
Gould. It happened, about the same time, that he had also 
mortgaged some property at Newport ; immediately the story flew 
from mouth to mouth that J. R. Keene was weakening financially, 
and his failure might be expected at any moment. The explana- 
tion given by the subject of these reports was that his agent, Mr. 
Pondir (known as the "Apollo of Wall street"), had bought the 
picture for his employer, as he had many others, but that it having 
been criticised, and Mr. Keene having in consequence lost his 
admiration for it, Mr. Pondir, to justify his judgment in its pur- 
chase, had bought "a call" on the picture for a year from Mr. 
Keene for $1,000, and, in fact, instead of its having been bought 
for $24,000 and sold for $16,000, Mr. Keene averred that he had 
made over $5,000 by the transfer. And as to the Newport property, 
he had bought the place for $40,000, including a cottage upon it ; 
this house was burned down, and he mortgaged what was left of 
the estate for nearly twice the value of the purchase-money. Mr. 
Keene's family was also just about going to Europe, the latter, 
consisting of his wife and two children, expecting to remain abroad 
three years ; hence, he said, he might yet sell more pictures, and 
even some of his horses — he had in the spring about a hundred 
— and that even if he did that would not forebode his failure. 

Mr. Keene's name, it will be remembered, became suddenly 
celebrated on the turf a couple of years ago (in 1881) through one 
of his favorite horses (Foxhall), which won the Grand Prix in 
Paris ; out of the sum awarded Mr. Keene as victor he presented 
5,000 francs to the poor of that city. The present year (1883) he 
made some minor successes in England, but nothing so brilliant as 



592 . JAMES R. KEENE. 

his experience in 1881. For some reason the English turfmen 
seem exceedingly wary about entering any of Mr. Keene's stock, 
though the Burwell stakes were won at Newmarket in May by his 
three-year-old chestnut colt, Blue Grass. It is said that he pays 
the jockey, Tom Cannon, £1,500 for first claim on his services. 

Mr. Keene's latest million was gained in May, 1883, m petroleum 
stock, of which he had a large quantity, buying at ninety-two and 
ninety-three, and quietly getting rid of his load at one hundred 
and twenty. In politics Mr. Keene is a Democrat, though he 
takes no active part in either municipal or State affairs. He 
is a good-looking man, with a penetrating, dark-gray eye and a 
general air of intellectual force, with a strong Spanish cast of 
features. 

On the last day of April, 1884, Mr. Keene issued a card announc- 
ing his inability to meet his obligations. In his effort to maintain his 
position upon a falling market, he paid out within a few months 
$1,000,000. His failure excited less surprise than it would have 
done previously, because rumors of his financial difficulties were 
afloat. Mr. Keene was a heavy dealer in " puts and calls, " a sys- 
tem of business which demanded a large capital and great financial 
astuteness, and a heavy decline in the market, following a pro- 
longed depression, involved him hopelessly. He went into Wall 
Street worth from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000, and lost the whole 
of it. His residence at Newport was offered for sale the day 
after his failure. Opinions varied as to the extent of his losses 
when the event was announced, and it is difficult to predict the 
precise financial condition of this great California speculator. He 
will likely come to the front again, and renew his speculations. 
He is the owner of a number of fine race-horses, which have won 
purses both in this country and England. His celebrated Foxhall 
won the Grand Prix Stakes in Paris, and the three great stakes in 
England, and Mr. Keene cleared over $500,000 on these events. 
While owning fine horses he has not been known as a better to 
any extent, and has seemed to care for this kind of property from 
a money-making stand-point mainly. 



RUSSELL SAGE. 

Russell Sage is one of the interesting characters in Wall street ; 
we say " Wall street" as indicative of his profession as a financier 
rather than his precise location, for his orifice is on the lower part 
of Broadway, not far from the financial centre of the metropolis 
and the roar of the Stock Exchange ; this building also shelters 
the office of Jay Gould, a corner with many other bankers, brokers 
and financiers. Mr. Russell Sage occupies two small rooms, 
which are reached by one short flight of stairs, and in the outer 
room the first notice which strikes the eye of the visitor is this, 
" No smoking allowed here " These offices are neither spa- 
cious nor handsomely furnished ; but the occupant is there for 
business, not for show, and there are few shrewder men than he in 
the management of his own funds or other people's. 

Mr. Sage is a native of Oneida county, New York, and was 
born about 1823. At the early age of ten years he was employed 
in a grocery store in Troy, filling successively the role of errand 
boy, clerk, salesman and proprietor, first of a retail and then of a 
wholesale grocery business. At the age of twenty-one he was 
proprietor of a store, and from that time until the present has 
never had any very, serious set-back in life; but, if he has been 
more uniformly successful than many of his contemporaries, it has 
not been without constant care and diligence on his part Not 
only in his business was his standing and credit among the first in 
the city of Troy, but as a man of affairs his capacity was very 
generally recognized; he was for seven years alderman, and for 
an equal length of time held the very responsible position of county 
treasurer. 

Having given proof of his capacity m these positions, his towns- 
38 (593) 



594 RUSSELL SAGE. 

men elected him to Congress in 1853, in which position he re- 
mained four years. During this period Mr. Sage was instrumental 
in saving Mount Vernon from the neglect and decay into which it 
had been allowed to fall. He introduced, and eloquently advo- 
cated a bill for the preservation by the nation of the home of 
Washington. Efforts had been made by other parties before, but 
either from the mode in which the matter was presented, or that 
the motions were ill-timed, no essential progress had been made ; 
be this as it may, to Mr. Sage belongs the credit of having pro- 
cured the appointment of the committee, which led to the formation 
of the Mount Vernon Association, and the purchase and renova- 
tion of the home of the first President of the United States — the 
"Father of his country," General Washington. 

It was in 1861 that Mr. Sage made his appearance in Wall 
street, and though not operating on so large a scale as a few 
others, he has kept well up with the procession ever since. His 
interests have been widely diversified, dealing in stocks and real 
estate, in building and buying railroads, banking, and selling 
" privileges." His real estate in the West and in New York State 
and city is extremely large ; hundreds of acres in the West, and 
scores of building lots in New York. Mr. Sage enjoys his busi- 
ness, and has no desire for foreign travel ; he says " New York is 
good enough for him." He is not so conspicuous in the market 
as Field, Gould, Vanderbilt, and that limited class of men, but is 
said to have always on hand, and available for instant use at any 
moment, more ready cash than any of the Wall street magnates ; he 
is not averse to joining promising syndicates, but he is not the 
man to go into " blind pools " rashly ; he is very cautious, and 
prefers a rapid succession of small risks, and quick returns ; he 
calculates on raking a few hundred out of the street every day — 
sometimes it is thousands in a few hours ; he does not hesitate to 
show some elation if he has made a very good day's work, but 
gives no sign if he has met with losses. 

Mr. Sage has been largely concerned in the building of Western 



RUSSELL SAGE. 



595 



railroads — some 3,000 miles he claims to have constructed in dif- 
ferent parts of the country, between Western New York and Min- 
nesota. Of course he has had his hands in oil, and has recently 
dealt largely in privileges on petroleum. He is rather a favorite 
in financial circles, and though an elderly man, is reckoned with 
the " boys ; " he is not of the kind that grows old visibly, and so 
as to strike the attention ; he is very plain in his habits, and fre- 
quently takes a modest lunch in the office, instead of patronizing 
Delmonico, as he might with the loss of a few minutes from his 
desk, but this spot he chains himself to till after bank hours, when 
his one luxury, a drive in Central Park, is in order. He never 
uses wine or tobacco, and consequently keeps a very clear head. 
His amiability is proverbial, and his manner very familiar to those 
with whom he is well acquainted ; as for instance, though he may 
be talking with a man nearly his own age, he will lay his hand on 
his shoulder, and call him " My son ! " half a dozen times in the 
course of a few minutes' conversation ; he has no enemies — says 
he never indulges in that luxury. 

Mr. Sage is one of the few Wall street men who will "give his 
friends a point ; " there are several persons now living who have 
made fortunes out of hints received from him. The Troy Times 
of May 11, 1 88 1, mentions several instances of this kind: one, a 
gentleman now in the West, who admitted that out of a fortune of 
$600,000 which he possessed, " at least $400,000 was due to the 
advice and assistance of Russell Sage." Another instance is that 
of a certain bank cashier, to whom this acute financier was friendly, 
and who had made $300,000, from " points " given him by Sage. 
Then there is the very striking case of the late James Buell, 
formerly of Troy, who left an estate of between two and three 
millions. He was a particular friend of Russell Sage, and he freely 
admitted that the latter pointed out to him investments and specu- 
lations, from which he had made hundreds of thousands of dollars. 
Mr. Sage's private benevolence, in which he is warmly seconded 
by his estimable wife, takes a very liberal range, and many in- 



596 RUSSELL SAGE. 

stances are quoted, where he has not only given largely, and in 
some cases made annual pensioners of the needy, but also in 
others, where the greater service has been rendered of putting the 
bankrupt and the unfortunate in a way to retrieve their fortunes. 
But this kind-heartedness is not shown in the way of any leniency 
in trade ; if you deal with Russell Sage in " puts " and " calls," or 
"privileges," you must not expect any remission of your obliga- 
tions ; " business is business " with him, as with all successful men; 
if they were not sharp, and " took the letter of their bond," they 
would soon go under in the scramble and pressure of life about 
them. 

To a friend, who had heard that " Mr. Sage had made large do- 
nations to Cornell University" (this was really Mr. Henry W. 
Sage, of Brooklyn, New York), and who was about to compliment 
him on it, he said : " No, I have not given anything to Cornell nor 
to Vassar, but may do so in the coming by-and-by." It is very 
pleasant to meet with a man who can keep his heart fresh and 
open to the claims of charity, while still in the midst of his money- 
making. What Mr. Sage's fortune amounts to is somewhat prob- 
lematical, but it is not placed by any one on the street at less than 
$8,000,000, and many estimate it at three times that amount. He 
is a member of an Evangelical church in New York, not far from 
his residence on Fifth avenue. 




WM. S. O'BRIEN. 



WILLIAM S. O'BRIEN. 

The late William S. O'Brien is now best remembered as the 
original partner of James C. Flood, and for the bequests which he 
left to charitable institutions at his death. In the early history of 
these two millionaires they kept together a restaurant in San Fran- 
cisco, called the "Auction Lunch," on Washington street near 
Sansom, which was much resorted to by miners returning from 
the " diggings," who came to the city either to invest or spend 
their gains — sometimes to send their hard-earned gold to the East 
to waiting wives and little ones. Naturally these men, who were 
from different countries* and various mining districts, would talk 
over their experiences with each other, and much local lore was to 
be learned from this unrestrained interchange of views. The 
wary hosts took mental note of all this talk, and were soon au fait 
in all the particulars, qualities, and prospects of the mining region. 
It was in this way that they got their first idea of the superior 
richness of the mines in Nevada, and abandoning the tavern busi- 
ness they turned their attention to the more promising Hale, and 
Norcross, and Kentuck mines, then having the best repute on the 
Comstock lode. The result of this speculation is sufficiently told 
in the sketch of Mr. James C. Flood, and need not be repeated 
here. Mr. O'Brien died in 1879, and Mr. Flood, with James V. 
Coleman, was appointed executor of his friend's estate. 

Mr. Coleman was a nephew of O'Brien's, and as the latter was a 
bachelor, without nearer relatives, young Coleman was considered 
exceptionally lucky. The latter was acting as a clerk at a mine in 
Nevada at the modest salary of $100 per month, when Mr. O'Brien 
being taken ill sent for him to remain with and care for him. Be-' 
fore his death he presented him with $500,000 in United States 

(597) 



598 WILLIAM s. o'brien. 

four per cents. In addition to this his favorite "Jemmie" received 
an equal share of the estate, with the other nephews and nieces, 
and was appointed one of the executors " without bonds," which 
was equivalent to another $464,000: the value of Mr. O'Brien's 
estate being between $9,000,000 and $10,000,000. After the pay- 
ment of the legacies to be described, Mr. O'Brien's sisters (one 
of them Mr. Coleman's mother) were made residuary legatees, 
each lady receiving $3,500,000 as her share. The favorite nephew 
is a young man now about thirty- three years of age ; is a graduate 
of Georgetown College in the District of Columbia, and has taken 
to politics — his aim being a seat in Congress. 

Seven nephews and nieces received $300,000 each. To the 
Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum at San Rafael Mr. O'Brien left 
$50,000. To the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum in San Fran- 
cisco $30,000. To the Protestant Orphan Asylum in San Fran- 
cisco $20,000. Considerable litigation ensued in regard to this 
estate. : among other claimants a Mr. Buck sued the estate, and it 
was in regard to this claim that Mr. James C. Flood testified that 
he, John W. Mackay, James G. Fair, and the deceased, W. S. 
O'Brien, were the sole owners of the stock of the Pacific Mill 
Company of Virginia, Nevada, amounting to 80,000 shares ; but 
beyond that there was very little that he could remember. In the 
final application for settlement and distribution of the estate, 
Judge Finn, of the Probate Department of the Superior Court of 
San Francisco, directed that $1,000,000 in United States bonds 
should be retained by the court to pay possible judgments against 
the estate in the litigation instituted by the Consolidated Virginia 
Mining Company. 

He was a man of generous impulses, and always ready to help a 
friend ; and there are scores of people doing well in San Francisco 
to-day, who owe their first lift in life to the good advice and ma- 
terial aid furnished them by William S. O'Brien, while thousands 
of orphan children will bless in time to come the name of him who 
has bequeathed for their support and instruction such princely 
revenues. 



JOHN ROACH. 

Who has not heard of John Roach, the great shipbuilder at 
Chester on the Delaware — the man who built the first full-rigged 
iron ship in the United States, and who has recently completed his 
hundredth iron vessel ? These ships, turned out of his yard, rep- 
resent no less a sum than $35,000,000, and this industry involves 
an annual pay-roll of $587,000. Though for many years at the 
head of this immense business, Mr. Roach commenced life as a 
poor boy, working for twelve shillings a week ; and when this 
firm, which paid such low wages, failed, Mr. Roach " went West " 
in search of something better there ; he himself says " he became 
a tramp on the Illinois prairies," not having money enough to pay 
his way. On inquiring what wages he could get on a farm per 
week, he was told " three times as much corn as he could carry 
away on his back." Now he employs three thousand workmen in 
twenty-five different branches of industry, and in 1882 repaired 
and fitted out more ships than there are in commission in the navy 
of the United States. Mr. Roach passed through many business 
vicissitudes before establishing his famous shipbuilding firm of 
"John Roach & Son" on the shores of the Delaware, to which 
river his establishment has added the sobriquet of " the American 
Clyde," and to his own name that of " the father of iron-ship- 
building in America ; " and yet this business at Chester was only 
commenced by the Roaches in 1871, the population of the place 
being then about 5,000 — it is now nearly 20,000, owing in great 
measure to the impetus given to the general business of the place 
through these large works. This ship-yard extends for about half 
a mile along the river front, with a depth of nearly a quarter of a 
mile. Among the famous ships which have been built here per- 

(599) 



600 JOHN ROACH. 

haps none have attracted more attention than the sister steamers, 
built for the China trade for merchants in San Francisco — the 
" City of Peking " and the " City of Tokio " — each costing over a 
million of dollars ; these vessels are 419 feet in length, with a ton- 
nage of 5,079, being excelled in size only by the "Great Eastern" 
and two or three other vessels; as ocean-going steamers these 
ships were as nearly perfect in their equipments as money, skill 
and human ingenuity could devise. One of the fastest ships on 
the Atlantic, by Mr. Roach's statement, leading all others of her 
class, is the "Newport," running to Havana; her speed is sixteen 
knots an hour. Such a favorite has she become on this route that 
it is necessary for those desiring passage on her to engage state- 
rooms weeks beforehand. In all of the steamers built by Mr. 
Roach for passenger traffic the most approved devices for protec- 
tion against fire and other accidents are amply provided. The 
" City of Para " and the " Rio Janeiro," built for the Brazilian trade, 
had such a reputation for speed that they were eagerly bought up 
by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. 

Mr. Roach is ever alive to all the possibilities of improvement, 
especially in the interior arrangements for the convenience and 
comfort of passengers. In one of his Havana steamers, the "City 
of Washington," the arrangements for dining included the possi- 
bility of privacy when desired, separate rooms being arranged so 
that they could be isolated at will and entirely cut off from the 
main saloon, this being the first instance in which this plan has 
been introduced on an ocean steamer. Another splendid passen- 
ger-steamer is the " Pilgrim," built for the Fall River line, which 
became a great favorite with the travelling public so soon as her 
qualities and accommodations became known. This is an im- 
mense boat — three hundred and eighty-six feet in length — the 
largest side-wheel steamer ever constructed ; but this is not her 
chief or most valuable peculiarity ; she has a complete double 
hull, the inner being as strongly built as the outer, and between 
these two hulls she is provided with ninety-six water-tight com- 
( . . 



JOHN ROACH. 60 1 

partments ; she is built on the same principle as the British war- 
vessel, the "Inflexible," which took so prominent a part in the 
bombardment of Alexandria, in Egypt, but the " Pilgrim," it is 
claimed, is far stronger than the naval craft. That extraordinarily 
long ferry-boat plying between New York and Hunters Point, 
called the " Garden City," was also built at the yard of John 
Roach & Son. 

The most peculiar vessel built by this firm, and, as we believe, 
the fastest sailer ever afloat, is the famous turtleback yacht, the 
" Yosemite," built for Mr. William Belden, of New York ; she is 
unique in her construction, and on her trial trip made twenty-two 
miles an hour ! She is also immensely staunch and strong, which 
strength was unfortunately tested soon after delivery to her owner 
by an accident which occurred on the Hudson near West Point, 
when she cut a large steamer in two without herself sustaining any 
damage. This remarkable vessel is one hundred and ninety-seven 
feet six inches over all, twenty-three feet ten inches beam, with a 
depth of fifteen feet ten inches, her tonnage four hundred and 
eighty-one. But to enumerate even a small fraction of the 
superior vessels built by Mr. Roach would far exceed the limits of 
this chapter. His yard is famous not only for the excellence of 
the largest class of ships, but also for small sail-boats, and even 
row-boats, each receiving the best treatment adapted to its par- 
ticular class. But of all their work " Roach & Son " are particu- 
larly proud of that "successful experiment," the "Tillie E. Star- 
buck ; " this is a full-rigged sailing ship, the first of its class ever 
built of iron. It is employed in the freighting trade between New 
York and Oregon, and is of light draught to enable her to cross 
with her cargo over the bar of the Columbia river. Her capacity 
is 4,250 tons. This ship was built under a special survey of the 
"Bureau Veritas," and the surveyor, on her completion, pronounced 
her the strongest and altogether best built vessel which had ever 
passed under his inspection, and was classed accordingly. She 
carries three masts, which are hollow and made of the best fire- 



602 JOHN ROACH. 

box steel, seven-sixteenths of an inch thick, double for ten feet 
above the deck and strengthened inside with angle iron from deck 
to hounds. The size of her suit of sails may be judged by the 
single fact that her lower yards measure ninety feet. 

In the Roach ship-yard every department connected with ship- 
building is carried on, and that can be said of only one other 
establishment in the world (the other yard is the " Barrow Ship- 
yard ") ; here, at Chester, a whole ship can be built from the raw 
materials ; the rough ore is melted, rolled, hammered, forged, or 
made into angle-iron ; the straight logs are cut, warped and 
pressed into shape ; sails made, and the ship rigged and furnished 
ready for sea. 

Mr. Roach is naturally a protectionist of pronounced opinions, 
and thinks that with it American mechanics can all own their own 
houses if they are industrious, prudent and thrifty. He himself has 
taken no holiday for forty years; he recently gave some testimony 
before the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Educa- 
tion, in which he stated that the average pay of his 1,540 men em- 
ployed in the Chester yard was $2.19 per day, and that of these 287 
owned the houses they lived in. There were building associations 
among the men, schools for the children, and a superior military 
academy. He did not think there were six persons in the alms- 
house in Chester with its 20,000 population. Some of his men 
are landlords, owning several houses. 

Mr. Roach has not been much troubled with strikes. This is 
the way he dealt with one which occurred: he caused the strikers 
to be divided into three classes, according to their skill as work- 
men and general worthiness of conduct. Some of the men, who 
were not only good workmen but saving of material, had their 
wages raised ; others, who did their work well, but who were ob- 
served to be careless of material, were taken back but not ad- 
vanced ; the third class, who were addicted to drink, or worked 
unsteadily, were entirely rejected. So that after the strike he had 
only good workmen left. He has always acted upon the principle 



JOHN ROACH. 603 

of listening to individual complaints from his employes, but will 
never give audience to the representatives of a combination. He 
is a man who desires peace, and avoids litigation as he would the 
plague ; in the course of his long business career he has never 
sued or been sued. Although not willing to treat with combina- 
tions of workmen, he does not deny their right to combine, nor 
does he exclude the members of " trades unions " from his yard, 
indeed he employs them, if they are good workmen, without re- 
gard to their social affiliations, but will only hire them as indi- 
viduals. 

Mr. Roach has built several ships for the United States navy, 
which seems to have given him a wholesome dread of official in- 
terference ; and he lately expressed the opinion that it ought to be 
made a penal offence for any officer or member of Congress, or 
official of any kind, to interfere in the work of the shipyard. Mr. 
Roach has a certain respect for " workmen with brains," but very 
little for those with dull faculties ; he even gives the former a 
chance to make something beyond days' wages ; sometimes he will 
pick out five or six of his most intelligent men and give them the 
opportunity to take a job in the yard entirely into their own hands, 
he advancing the capital for material, etc. ; they make often a 
handsome profit, and are able to pay back what Mr. Roach has 
advanced ; this sort of stock concern he encourages. 

In personal appearance this remarkable man is large and well 
preserved. He is of Irish parentage, and his physiognomy is re- 
markable for its strength. Although now verging upon old age, 
he is one of the most active business men in the world. Mr. Roach 
lives at Long Island, and when not at Chester, Pennsylvania, is to 
be found in the office of the Morgan Iron Works in New York. 
He is kindly by nature, and one whose friendship once secured is 
retained permanently if merited. His success in life has not made 
him indifferent to others, or unmindful of the needs of those who 
are deserving. 



EX-LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR H. A. W. TABOR. 

Mr. H. A. W. Tabor, of Denver, Colorado, has made some 
noise in the world in various capacities ; first, as one of the 
bonanza kings, second grade ; next, as a politician of a rare and 
peculiar quality. Not a few of our millionaires are rather re- 
markable for their plain and unostentatious personal appearance. 
Others seek to avoid all unnecessary publicity as to their move- 
ments, expenditures, etc., but it is hard for a man who has made 
$10,000,000 to avoid idiosyncrasies of some kind. Mr. Tabor's ex- 
travagances are in the direction of elegant houses. He has one 
at Denver which cost him $1,000,000. He also built there an 
opera-house which bears his name, and he is the owner of the 
Windsor Hotel in Denver. It is his intention to build for his own 
residence in that city a new mansion which shall eclipse in magnifi- 
cence every other on the continent, throwing the Vanderbilt pal- 
aces into the shade, and surpassing the marble halls of Stewart as 
the trees of the Yosemite surpass the pines of the White Hills. 
In fact the Western people, when they undertake to build a fine 
residence, usually take care to give it a good setting with a frame- 
work of grass, trees and flowers ; a sad lack on the part of New 
York millionaires, who are content to build their palaces almost 
close to the curbstones of the street, many of them without a rod 
of land which is not tiled or paved. Mr. Tabor's forthcoming won- 
der will be placed in the middle of a block containing thirty-two 
lots. The house is to be designed with a view to the accommoda- 
tion of numerous guests and grand festivities. There will be im- 
mense reception rooms for grand occasions, more moderate-sized 
ones for ordinary use, dining-halls of princely size, and, on the 
principal floor devoted to guests, the various apartments will be so 
(604) 



EX-LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR H. A. W. TABOR. 605 

arranged that they can be thrown into one. In the centre of the 
grand reception hall there will be a large fountain, surrounded by 
the choicest and most beautiful plants, on which the light from a 
hundred gas-jets will glimmer and sparkle. A dome of great 
height will form the central elevation, finished in fresco to repre- 
sent the sky ; the walls will be colored in soft and delicate tints, 
while within ample niches, formed for their reception, will stand 
full-length marble statues representing mythological and classic 
forms ; interspersed with these will be paintings — not canvas affairs 
which can be bought and sold every day in the week, but exe- 
cuted in imperial style on the walls of the reception-rooms, ban- 
queting halls and ample corridors, whence they can never be 
transferred to less appreciative owners. The best artists that can 
be procured will be employed on these internal decorations. But 
probably no feature of this Denver palace will be of more intrinsic 
interest than the floor, which will be one grand mosaic, composed 
of all the various and beautiful minerals of Colorado, arranged in 
elegant artistic designs. 

One notable feature of this every way remarkable house will be 
a high tower, from which most extensive views may be obtained, 
and which will be so solidly founded that it will be available in the 
future for astronomical observations. One peculiar feature in the 
lighting arrangements for the festival halls is the fixture of glass 
prisms, so placed that light of different colors, blue, red, orange, 
etc., can be thrown at will over the whole room. . There will be 
thirty rooms in all — most of the chambers en suite, and every 
arrangement for amusement provided — billiard-room, bowling 
alley, and even a tennis court for lawn tennis, when the weather 
does not permit out-door exercise. The grounds surrounding the 
house will be laid out in a style to correspond with all this interior 
magnificence, and the stables will also be on the amplest scale, 
with every known modern improvement with a most princely pro- 
vision of carriages, saddles, and horses to please the tastes of 
guests. 



606 EX-LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR H. A. W. TABOR. 

It has been recently announced on good authority, that Mr. 
Tabor is about taking measures to found an extensive public 
library in Denver, to cost some $200,000, to be liberally endowed, 
and to start with a collection of 100,000 volumes. 

Since Mr. Tabor acquired his large wealth, he has been suc- 
cessful in politics to the extent of being elected Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor of the State of Colorado, and United States Senator for 
thirty days, filling the unexpired term of Senator Teller. When 
in Washington Mr. Tabor disbursed his money in lavish style, and 
many tradesmen and caterers must have heartily wished that he 
had been chosen for a six-year term, rather than for the poor 
thirty days of an unexpired term. At the present time he is living 
with his second wife in Denver, he having been married to her 
while residing at Washington. 




A. T. STEWART. 



ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 

Among the many merchant princes whose names are engraved 
in gold in the commercial history of the great metropolis of New 
York, none of them ever exercised during his lifetime so vast an 
influence as Alexander Turney Stewart. Nor was that influence 
limited to New York. He wielded a commercial empire, which 
penetrated the whole country and affected largely the markets of 
other nations. His agencies in the commercial centres of the 
world resembled some secret system of international police, his 
buyers being found at every mart, and being foremost in every 
bargain. He had branch establishments not only in Philadelphia 
and Boston, but in Manchester, Nottingham, and Bradford, Eng- 
land, at Paris and Lyons in France, in Belfast, Glasgow, Berlin and 
Chemnitz. Ships freighted with his goods were forever crossing 
the Atlantic, and bringing to America the produce of European 
factories, as silks, satins, cloths and velvets, carpets, calicoes, mus- 
lins, and the like. The looms of Belfast, where he was born in 
1802, were kept busy by its fortunate son. Lyons sent him her 
choicest silks, Belgium her richest laces, Russia her finest sables. 
Even in Persia, he had a body of men organized under a superin- 
tendent, for the hunting of the Astrachan goat, and the skins of 
the young kids were worn unconsciously by the fine ladies of New 
York. He was the largest importer that not only the United 
States but the world has ever seen. His custom-house duties 
averaged for many years $30,000 gold a day. His income was 
for years the largest which mortal man ever derived from trade in 
any portion of the globe. He owned more real estate in America 
than any other person has ever owned, with the sole exception of 
William B. Astor. What his personal income was cannot be esti- 

(607) 



608 ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 

mated precisely, as he was always reserved upon his own affairs, 
but he was certainly worth not less than $50,000,000 when he died. 
In 1870 it was estimated that his great store at the corner of 
Tenth street and Broadway alone took in daily an average of 
$60,000, and on some days its cash receipts had reached nearly 
$90,000. In this chief store, the method which had so large a 
share in the making of Mr. Stewart's fortune was exhibited with 
the precision of machinery. 

During the busy season 30,000 persons would sometimes visit 
the store in a day; and the average was 20,000. These were 
composed of all classes, for while the very wealthy could spend 
their thousands in a single visit, as they sometimes did, the poorer 
classes found their advantage in buying directly of Stewart, instead 
of the smaller stores that bought of him. Many a thrifty house- 
wife has bought at Stewart's her piece of cloth at almost wholesale 
prices, and transformed it with her own sewing machine into suits 
of clothes for her boys. 

In the service of this up-town store about 2,200 persons were 
employed. The one general superintendent had nineteen assist- 
ants, each of whom was at the head of a department. Nine cash- 
iers received and paid out money ; twenty-five book-keepers kept 
the record of the day; thirty ushers directed purchasers to the 
department they were seeking; two hundred cash-boys received 
the money and brought back the change of purchasers ; four hun- 
dred and seventy clerks, some of whom were women, made the 
sales of the day ; fifty porters did the heavy work, and nine hun- 
dred seamstresses were employed in the manufacturing depart- 
ment. Beside these there were some five hundred other persons 
employed about this immense store in various capacities. The 
same exact system which regulated the business done controlled 
the employes through whom it was done. Dishonesty was pun- 
ished by instant dismissal ; integrity and ability were rewarded by 
a sure sequence of promotions. The boy who began with five 
dollars a week might, by quickness, industry, and good manners, 



ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 609 

soon rise to be the clerk at twenty-five, and the latter by the same 
line of conduct could in a few years rise to be a confidential agent 
of the house with a competence of his own. 

But as both the house of Stewart and the founder of it have 
now ceased to be, it is needless to dwell upon the details of the 
business, and the interior discipline of its several departments. It 
will be more profitable to trace the gradual steps by which so 
colossal an establishment as Stewart's came into existence, and the 
qualities and method of the remarkable man, who was the sole 
architect of the greatest business fortune of modern or ancient 
times. There have been a few individuals, perhaps, as rich as Mr. 
Stewart, but they have owed their wealth to hereditary or political 
causes, or to strokes of luck in mines and other gambling specula- 
tions. Every penny that the late A. T. Stewart ever made was 
made in trade, and trade whose legitimacy and honesty have never 
been questioned. 

Mr. Stewart himself was a believer in luck, and was almost su- 
perstitious on the subject: so much so that it is narrated of him 
that when he moved his store from between Murray and Warren 
streets, Broadway, to Chamber street, he carried with his own 
hands the box of the old apple woman who had for years sat out- 
side his place. She was a sort of genus loci to Mr. Stewart's 
mind; a fairy godmother of stout Hibernian build, who smoked a 
short clay pipe, the nauseous fumes of which seemed to his imag- 
ination to be so many favoring puffs of wind speeding his com- 
mercial craft. Most men would have left the Irish apple woman 
behind, and have been not sorry to get rid of her. But what the 
lamp-post was to Dr. Johnson this apple-stand was to Mr. Stewart. 
It was a land-mark and an ever present memory. So the aston- 
ished and delighted vendor of apples, oranges, and peanuts be- 
held the great merchant shoulder her box — an inverted empty 
orange box — and enthrone her at the entrance of his new estab- 
lishment. He regarded the old crone as his guardian angel, with- 
out whose wrinkles fortune would not smile upon him. A further < 
39 



6lO ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 

illustration of Mr. Stewart's faith in luck was a remark made by 
him on the completion of the St. Nicholas Hotel, New York, when 
standing in the reception-room, just as the hotel was about to be 
opened to guests, he said : " The St. Nicholas is at last finished ; I 
hope its first visitors will be lucky people." A gentleman who was 
present, and who had heard the previous story of Mr. Stewart and 
the apple-seller, remarked: "I presume, sir, that you do not in real- 
ity believe in lucky or unlucky persons." "Indeed I do," was the im- 
mediate reply. " I have known persons who always bring in luck. 
I sometimes open a case of goods and sell the first from it to some 
person who is unlucky, and I am sure to lose on it in the end. I 
frequently see persons to whom I would not sell at all if I could 
avoid it." 

That, as a matter of fact, some persons are always fortunate 
and others unfortunate in their adventures and experiences can- 
not be denied. Nor can it be questioned that sudden pieces of 
good fortune fall to some and not to others. But when regular 
events for an extended time are considered, it will be found that 
what is called luck is in fact prudent conduct, and bad luck the 
contrary. Mr. Stewart, it is said, always considered himself a 
lucky rather than a particularly able man, but his whole career 
refutes such an opinion. No man was ever more careful to count 
the cost of what he was about to do, and to look before he leaped. 
In fact, he never leaped, but did everything with the regularity of 
a time-piece. Had he lain in bed and waited for his good fortune, 
he would have been like the man whom Horace describes, who 
waited on the bank until the river should flow by. But from his 
boyhead to his death, energy, directed by prudence and sustained 
by courage, was the system of his life. His luck was not a purse 
picked up by accident, but a purse bought by careful industry and 
filled by foresight and perseverance. In all such cases of com- 
mercial success, the chief difficulties are at the start. As John 
Jacob Astor used to say, "I found it hard to make the first dollar, 
but had no trouble after that." A wrong start can never win the 



ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 6 1 I 

race. There is some luck, of course, in starting right, for, of the 
many roads that lie before a youth when he begins his business 
life, it is not easy for him to know which is the best one. Many 
mistake their own talents and calling. But what he does know is, 
that industry, intelligence, and integrity never fail to win in the 
long run, and that, on the other hand, to be idle is to be poor, to 
be dissipated is to sink down lower and lower, to hesitate is often 
to be lost, to procrastinate is often to lose one's opportunity alto- 
gether; for, as the Spanish proverb says, "The lane called by-and- 
by leads to the house of never." 

In the career of A. T. Stewart we find at the outset an exhibition 
of those qualities which were conspicuous throughout his fifty 
years of unexampled success. It was from Belfast, Ireland, his 
birthplace, that Alexander Turney Stewart came to America, and 
after a tedious and stormy passage, landed in New York in the 
year 1818. He was then but sixteen years of age, and had studied 
two terms at Trinity College, Dublin. His father dying when he 
was only three years old, his grandfather took charge of him, and 
designed him for the Protestant Episcopal ministry, of what was 
then " the united Church of England and Ireland," but the Irish 
section of which was disestablished and disconnected from the 
state by Mr. Gladstone in 1869. These plans, however, which 
suited well the lad's own turn of mind, who had a taste for classical 
and clerical learning, were suddenly dissolved by the death of his 
grandfather. With some ready money and a few letters of intro- 
duction, he landed in New York, and became assistant-usher in 
a commercial school, a position he soon resigned for a better one 
in a higher kind of academy, with a stipend of $300 a year, equal, 
certainly, to four times that amount at the present time. His 
native ambition, however, aspired to a more comfortable position 
than that of school-teacher, and he opened a small retail dry-goods 
store, where he remained until the age of twenty-one, when he 
returned to Ireland to receive a legacy of nearly ,£1,000 left him 
by his grandfather. The greater part of this sum he invested in 



6l2 ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 

" insertions " and " scallop-trimmings," which he shipped to New 
York by the same vessel in which he himself returned. With this 
stock in trade and a hundred dollars or so in cash, he rented a 
new store at 283 Broadway, and at once found a ready sale for 
his imported stock at a fair profit. 

It is clear that he started on the right track, and that he had now 
no more to do than to exercise the prudence and business capacity 
he possessed in increasing his store and enlarging his business 
connections. He was his own buyer, salesman, bookkeeper, and 
porter in these early days. He watched the New York auctions 
and purchased for cash. In his wife he found his only but efficient 
help. By buying and selling for cash, he had prospered sufficiently 
within three years to remove from his little store to a larger one 
at 262 Broadway, and at the end of another three years to No. 
257. Here he remained for seventeen years, steadily increasing 
his business and his capital. In 1846 he purchased a city lot at 
Broadway and Chambers street, and began to erect the building 
afterward known as " Stewart's down-town store." " The up-town 
store," occupying the entire block bounded by Broadway, Ninth 
and Tenth streets, and Fourth avenue, to which we have already 
referred, was next erected, and became the retail department of 
Mr. Stewart's immense business. 

At the commencement of the war in 1861, Mr. Stewart contrib- 
uted largely and generously to the Union cause. He was a mem- 
ber of the Union Defence Committee, and in 1866 was one of the 
signers of the Saratoga address, calling on the people of the 
country to sustain the policy of President Johnson. He was one 
of the first to advocate the election of General Grant as his suc- 
cessor in the Presidency, and was a candidate for Presidential 
Elector on the Republican ticket for the State of New York, but 
was defeated by the Democrats. It was during the period of the 
war that Mr. Stewart chartered a vessel with provisions for the 
starving poor of Ireland, and directions to bring back as many im- 
migrants as she could carry free of charge. One hundred and 



ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 6 1 3 

thirty-nine persons came over, and were at once provided with 
employment by Mr. Stewart. With the same prevision which led 
so many of the Southern planters to liberate their slaves at the 
outset of the war, Mr. Stewart made contracts with all the manu- 
facturers in the country for an extended term. His keen eye fore- 
saw the coming struggle long before it came. Accordingly, when 
it did come, he was financially as well as loyally prepared for it. 
If the loss of his Southern trade was great, his profits from the 
monopoly of army clothing, blankets, etc., were far greater. Yet 
toward the Government of the United States he was always 
remarkably liberal in his business dealings. 

Mr. Stewart, as well from motives of private friendship as from 
a public sense of what the General of the Army had done for the 
nation, was a zealous advocate and firm adherent of President 
Grant. The President knew this, and he knew also the tremen- 
dous influence of Mr. Stewart upon the financial interests of the 
country. He argued, and with reason, that the same great finan- 
cial talents, prudence, and sound judgment, which had made A. T. 
Stewart the richest merchant of his time, would make him an able 
and successful administrator of the finances of the country. Presi- 
dent Grant, therefore, offered him the post of Secretary of the 
Treasury on the 5th of March, 1869, and the nomination was at 
once unanimously confirmed by the Senate. The country generally 
seemed well satisfied with the appointment, and Mr. Stewart was 
about to enter upon his new duties, when it was discovered that a 
merchant in active business was legally disqualified from taking 
charge of the Treasury. To obviate this objection, Mr. Stewart 
offered to donate the proceeds of his business during his term of 
office to the poor of New York, but objection being still made to 
him by adverse politicians, he sent in his withdrawal, which the 
President reluctantly accepted. There can be no doubt that his 
services as Secretary of the Treasury would have been greatly 
beneficial to the finances of the country. 

The personal habits of Mr. Stewart, like those of George Pea- 



614 ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 

body, and many other representative men who have attained vast 
wealth, were simple and free from ostentation. Those who have 
means sufficient to buy everything, care far less for superfluities 
than those who have to count each dollar as it comes and goes. 
Hence, it is said of A. T. Stewart, that he dressed plainly and 
well in the fashion of the time, but that he discarded all such orna- 
ments as diamond pins, watch-chains, and fancy finger-rings. 

In his daily habits he was equally abstemious, punctual and prac- 
tical. He rose early, and would be at his up-town store at nine or 
shortly after. After noting everything and seeing that the busi- 
ness of the day was revolving regularly, he went to his down-town 
store, directed and observed his business, and remained there 
during business hours, when he would return to his up-town store 
and go home to dinner. His most intimate companion for thirty 
years, especially at the dinner-table, was Judge Henry Hilton, 
whom he appointed his executor, and who carried on the business 
until April, 1882, when it was closed. Mr. Stewart must be judged 
by his many munificent enterprises for the alleviation of suffering 
and poverty, which were none the less magnanimous in their 
design because some of them failed in execution. Nor need it be 
denied that Mr. Stewart's judgment was on rare occasions at fault, 
as when he invested heavily in Bleecker street, believing at the 
time that there would be the limit, and the centre of the up-town 
business of New York. Had Mr. Stewart lived longer, he would 
no doubt have moved his retail business from ten to twenty blocks 
higher than he did. But who could foresee the effects of rapid 
transit in advance of the event ? He was always a zealous oppo- 
nent of a Broadway railroad, holding that the finest street in New 
York would be spoiled by it. The part of Broadway, however, on 
which there is now a railroad, is occupied by some of the finest 
stores in the country, in the same line of business as Mr. Stewart's. 
In this unlooked-for competition by smaller but still formidable 
competitors for public favor, we have undoubtedly the true in- 
wardness of the conclusion arrived at by both Judge Hilton and 



ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 615 

Mr. Libbey, his partner, to close up their business. Indeed, it had 
never been the same since the master business-mind that origin- 
ated it was taken away by death on April 10, 1876. 

It is hardly possible for both writer and reader not to pause at 
this event and connect the 10th of April, 1876, with the night of 
Wednesday, the 6th of November, 1878, when the body of Alex- 
ander Turney Stewart was stolen from the Stewart vault in St. 
Mark's churchyard. "St. Mark's Church" is an old historic land- 
mark of New York, and it was from the old churchyard of this 
church, which Mr. Stewart had for many years attended, that his 
remains were stolen. The assistant-sexton, Francis Parker, was 
the first to make the discovery, and for days the newspapers of 
New York and every city in the Union were filled with horror, 
conjecture and dismay. The mausoleum erected for its reception 
at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, Long Island, 
is the most beautiful and costly work of the kind ever produced 
in this country. The cathedral, magnificent as it is, with its 
stained-glass windows and marble floor and pillars, and above all 
in the unequalled symmetry of its spire, which seen from the sur- 
rounding country on a summer morning or evening, forms a per- 
spective to which no other spire in the whole country can compare, 
will be as the temple without the ark of the tabernacle within it, 
if the body of the founder is never laid there. 

Garden City is destined to become very beautiful when the vari- 
ous school edifices and residences are completed, and the land- 
scape improvements are made. 

It was only by a few dollars that Mr. Stewart outbid Judge Hil- 
ton, now his representative, in the purchase of these Hempstead 
Plains. Mr. 'Hilton had made a liberal offer, but a company raised 
it to forty-five dollars an acre. Mr. Stewart outbid the company by 
ten dollars an acre, and when the deed was drawn gave his cheque 
for $394,350. The plains originally comprised sixty thousand 
acres, but only seven thousand acres remained the property of the 
town of Hempstead when Mr. Stewart purchased the land which 



6l6 ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 

is now Garden City. Twenty-five hundred acres were at first de- 
voted to agriculture, and called " the farm," to which two hundred 
acres were added later. 

The Hempstead assessment rolls show that the A. T. Stewart 
estate, of which Garden City is the centre, is assessed for $231,000. 
The value of the property is now over half a million of dollars. 
Strangely enough, he did not, in his will, specify the denominations 
to which the memorial church at Garden City was to belong, and 
his executor, Mr. Hilton, made arrangements and commenced 
operations for building a church in the interests of Congregation- 
alism, of which the Rev. George H. Hepworth was to be the pas- 
tor. Dr. Littlejohn, the first Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal 
denomination in Long Island, knowing that Mr. Stewart had been 
all his life an Episcopalian, felt not unnaturally aggrieved, and 
represented the claims of his diocese to Mrs. Stewart. The result 
was that the land and funds for the ecclesiastical arrangements of 
Garden City were transferred to the Protestant Episcopal Diocese 
of Long Island, and while the cathedral, which, though small, is 
large enough for the fullest Anglican ritual, is now completed, and 
also St. Paul's school for boys, and St. Mary's for girls, at a cost 
for the former of two millions, and of the latter one million dollars, 
the bishop's residence is yet to be completed. The government 
assigned an army officer to be master of military science and tac- 
tics in St. Paul's, and apportioned for the use of the military de- 
partment 150 guns, two pieces of ordnance, and the necessary 
accoutrements. Every provision has been made for the support 
of the ecclesiastical and scholastic staff, the clergy, the teachers, 
and the choir, necessary for the cathedral and the schools, and 
Judge Hilton has caused to be added a fine school library, maps 
and charts, and the vestments for the cathedral. 

The idea of founding a public school for the higher education of 
boys, especially with a view to professional life, is one that has 
been long cherished by wealthy Episcopalians. The clergy of 
Trinity parish, New York, labored for years to make Trinity 



ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART. 617 

school a miniature copy of Rugby or Harrow. They even secured 
a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, of fine clerical attainments, as 
Head Master. But the necessary endowment could not be 
diverted from parochial funds, large as they are, and New York is 
not the place for such a school, which requires ample room for 
sports and recreation under the eye of the masters. Garden City 
has all these advantages, and there is no reason, if the secular 
teaching makes a national reputation for its excellence, why the 
children, not only of Episcopalians but of all denominations, should 
not assemble at this centre for the highest training preliminary to 
that of the Universities. Hitherto hundreds of the wealthier fami- 
lies in America have sent their sons and daughters to Europe for 
education, but if they find that at Garden City they can reap the 
same advantages, with those recent improvements, jointly and 
scientific, which Europe has not yet adopted, it is very likely that 
they will prefer to give their children European culture on Ameri- 
can soil. And should this be the result of Mr. Stewart's ereat 
philanthropic scheme, his name will be handed down to remotest 
posterity by the thousands who will receive instruction in St. 
John's and St. Mary's. 



GEORGE W. RIGGS. 

Mr. George W. Riggs, the well-known banker of Washington, 
D. C, was born in the neighboring city of Georgetown, in 1813. 
His father was Mr. Elisha Riggs, who was for many years a part- 
ner of George Peabody in the dry-goods business, in Baltimore ; 
his son, George, was bred to finance, and was early inducted into 
one of the best schools possible for acquiring a thorough practical 
knowledge of such matters, entering the banking-house of W. W. 
Corcoran, in Washington, of which he became, soon after attain- 
ing his majority, a partner. Under the name of Corcoran & Riggs 
this firm first attained to national fame during the war of the 
United States with Mexico. A loan was called for by the govern- 
ment of $5,000,000 — what would now seem an insignificant sum, 
and which even then there were many banking-firms that could 
have easily taken it up ; but the war was very unpopular with the 
more conservative part of the community, and this portion of the 
people usually includes the large capitalists ; it was also opposed 
by the Whig party, and there actually appeared some danger that 
the credit of the United States would suffer through this political 
hostility to the policy of the administration (under President James 
K. Polk). At this juncture the then almost unknown house of 
Corcoran & Riggs came to the rescue, and took up the whole loan. 
A second call was issued for a similar sum, which was taken by the 
senior member of the firm on his individual security, Mr. Riggs 
declining to invest more in that direction. These transactions 
proved very profitable, both directly by the large commissions 
received, and indirectly by bringing the firm into greater publicity. 
Mr. Corcoran retired from business many years ago, but under 
the management of Mr. Riggs, who, in addition to the banking 
(618) 



GEORGE W. RIGGS. 619 

business, entered largely into the purchase of real estate, and 
bought much of that originally owned by the government in 
Washington and other parts of the District of Columbia at a 
merely nominal price. 

Mr. Riggs was not so much absorbed in business as to neglect 
his duties as a citizen. He took a great interest in the manage- 
ment of affairs in the district, and in 1873, being dissatisfied with 
the way in which the finances of the city were conducted by the 
Board of Public Works, he acted as Chairman of the " Committee 
of Memorialists," who presented a petition to Congress for an in- 
vestigation to be instituted to examine its accounts and modes of 
procedure. This petition was effective ; an investigation was or- 
dered and resulted in a most radical change. Up to this time the 
government of the district had been territorial in its character, and 
under it the abuses complained of had arisen. Mr. Riggs had a 
hearing before the committee, and from his standing in society and 
intelligence in business matters his testimony carried great weight 
with it: the result was, that the committee reported in favor of 
abolishing the territorial government, which was done, and a new 
system inaugurated making Congress itself the ultimate source of 
all authority in the district. 

Mr. Riggs was a man of literary and artistic tastes ; he was a 
collector of rare and valuable books, and it was a real treat to be 
allowed the entree into his library. He had also a taste for fine 
fire-arms and armor, and his mansion would probably have been 
enriched with a most choice and valuable collection of these, made 
by one of his brothers, a resident of Paris, who is known as the 
possessor of an extraordinary variety of arms and armor, some 
of them of exceeding beauty and of unique workmanship, pro- 
cured at great cost, and which would have been worthy of a place 
in any national museum ; but they have been retained in Europe 
because the Messrs. Riggs will not suffer what they consider the 
imposition of paying an absurdly exorbitant tariff upon these 
objects, most of which might truly be rated as "works of art." 



620 GEORGE W. RIGGS. 

Mr. Riggs married a Maryland lady, who survives him, and at 
the time of his death left five children. He died at his country 
residence, Glen Hill, near Washington, on the 9th of August, 1881, 
after an illness of some weeks, brought on by chronic dyspepsia. 
He had been in business nearly forty years, and after Mr. Cor- 
coran's retirement was the leading banker in the city : he did 
nearly all the banking business for the several foreign legations 
established in Washington. 

Mr. Riggs' personal estate in Washington was only estimated at 
$300,000, while the real approximated $6,000,000. The will, for a 
man of such large estate, was somewhat peculiar ; the whole prop- 
erty of every kind, of which he died possessed, being left to his 
wife, she being also appointed one of the executors ; the will was 
very carefully written, everything being elaborately described with 
an abundance of technical phrases, so that no misunderstanding 
should arise ; the only restriction put upon the absolute disposal 
of the whole of this large property by the widow, in life or by will, 
is, that if employed for the advancement or establishment of the 
children, " such advancement " for any one child shall " in no case 
exceed the probable value of an equal share of the estate, which 
would have belonged to the child, if the estate, at the wife's death, 
had been divided at the time such advancement was made." No 
public or charitable donations or bequests appear to have been 
made by the decedent. 



JOSEPH EARLE SHEFFIELD. 

Joseph Earle Sheffield, one of the noble names of New Eng- 
land, forever identified with Yale College and the city of New 
Haven by his munificent gifts, was born in the last century in 
Southport, Connecticut (June 19, 1793), but his good and useful 
life stretched far into the present, reaching nearly to the age of 
ninety ; he was equally the cotemporary of Washington and Gar- 
field, and consequently combined in his experience all the vast 
increase of the country from the original thirteen States to its 
present magnitude — the introduction of steam with all the succes- 
sive scientific inventions familiar to this generation, but which were 
wondrous novelties in his early days. His father and earlier an- 
cestors were in good circumstances, being large ship-owners when 
sailing craft alone " ploughed the deep," and not a little of the 
wealth acquired by them was derived during the war of the Revo- 
lution by the privateers fitted out by them for the capture of 
British merchantmen. On his mother's side he was also descended 
from a race of seamen and merchants, his mother being the daughter 
of Captain Walter Thorpe, long engaged in the West India trade ; 
thus it is not surprising that young Sheffield's inclination early 
led him to the choice of a mercantile life. 

After receiving a common school education, before he was fif- 
teen years of age, in 1808, he entered on that long business 
career which only terminated a little over a year ago. His first 
essay was made at Newberne, North Carolina, where he acted as 
clerk until 181 3, when he formed a partnership with a house in 
New York ; he remained in Newberne to conduct the business 
there. In the Southern States at that time there were few good 
roads, and Mr. Sheffield made frequent journeys on horseback to 

(621) 



62 2 JOSEPH EARLE SHEFFIELD. 

introduce his commodities into the interior; in this way riding over 
a thousand miles through North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, 
visiting in the latter State Fort Claiborne and descending to 
Mobile, then a pretty seaport of a few thousand inhabitants ; but 
small as the population then was, he saw and appreciated its capa- 
bilities as an exporting site, and on his return transferred his 
business from Newberne to this city on the Gulf. His remarkable 
business insight, untiring energy and perseverance, soon placed 
him at the head of the mercantile circle of Mobile ; he became an 
extensive shipper of cotton, and was offered by Nicholas Biddle 
the Presidency of the Mobile branch of the United States Bank, 
but about this time having decided to come North and settle, he 
declined the offer. In the summer of 1835 we find him again in 
his native State, in the city of New Haven, and from this period 
the welfare and development of that section of the country claimed 
his devoted attention. 

Mr. Sheffield's first connection with the public works of the 
State was his interest in the construction of the New Haven and 
North Hampton Canal. The success of the Erie Canal had nat- 
urally drawn the thoughts of capitalists in the direction of canal- 
making, and many short canals were opened and more planned 
throughout the country, which would never have engulfed the 
money of the discerning if they could have foreseen the approach- 
ing rivalry of the locomotive. Scarcely was the New Haven 
and North Hampton Canal an accomplished fact — pushed to com- 
pletion mainly by the almost superhuman efforts of Mr. Sheffield, 
who had great and very embarrassing difficulties to surmount, 
both in the Legislature of his own and the neighboring State of 
Massachusetts, but also in overcoming the opposition of the farmers 
(where lands were to be acquired from private parties) — than he 
perceived that a new element was to enter into the calculations 
of profit and loss in canal property. But he spent no time in 
regrets, but promptly retrieving the error, if error it was, he sold 
out his canal stock, and turned all his energies in the direction 



JOSEPH EARLE SHEFFIELD, 623 

of the railroad systems. He was one of the most active in pro- 
curing the charter for the New Haven & New York Railroad, and 
also of the New Haven & North Hampton road ; not only taking 
a large quantity of the stock, but as a director in the first and as 
president of the latter was an efficient and untiring worker for the 
interest of both. 

In connection with his friend, Mr. Farnum, he now extended his 
horizon to the West, and obtained a charter for the construction 
of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, which has since been 
extended, and is now the " Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific." The 
road built under Mr. Sheffield's contract was completed at the 
moderate cost of $5,000,000, and had the remarkable merit of being 
built in a shorter time than the charter allowed by a whole year. 
This was perhaps the most profitable of any of his early business 
transactions. In 1856 he withdrew his official connection from 
this road, desiring to visit Europe, which he did, remaining 
abroad two years, declining also a re-election as director of the 
Mississippi & Missouri Railroad at the same period. Mr. Sheffield 
was one of the old school Democrats, as loyal and patriotic as 
his prototype, Jefferson ; but during the early months of the late 
civil war the members of the opposite party found it difficult to 
believe that any Democrat could be "truly loyal;" they had an 
opportunity to test Mr. Sheffield's faith by his works. A certain 
military officer was searching through New Haven for a quarter- 
master's storehouse, suitable buildings for such a purpose not 
abounding in that compact little city ; only two places met his 
views, one of these being owned by Mr. Sheffield, the other by a 
wealthy gentleman of different political sentiments; the officer 
first applied for the latter, but the owner refused his consent ; 
forced then to apply to Mr. Sheffield, the request was imme- 
diately granted. "You are not only welcome to it," he said, "but 
if you needed them you could have my parlors for the same pur- 
pose," and he would have been as good as his word. 

Mr. Sheffield had married in 1822, Maria, the daughter of Colo- 



624 JOSEPH EARLE SHEFFIELD. 

nel T. St. John, of Walton, Delaware county, New York. Of this 
marriage there were four daughters and two sons. One of these 
daughters married Prof. John A. Porter, of Yale University, which 
was probably the origin of Mr. Sheffield's unremitting interest in it. 
So early as 1846 he began that series of benefactions which ceased 
only with his life — not indeed then, for his will, in the hands of his 
executors, will cause the good work to be continued. His first 
large gift to Yale was a capacious building on the corner of Grove 
and Prospect streets, since known as Sheffield Hall ; this has been 
twice enlarged and refitted, and is appropriated to the uses of the 
scientific department of the college ; to this munificent gift was 
added a fund of $130,000 for the maintenance of professorships. 
Then followed a library fund of $12,000; the next movement of 
Mr. Sheffield in the interest of the college was his purchase of the 
famous Hill House mathematical library, at a cost of $41,000, and 
its transference to that faculty ; then were donated in succession, 
a newly-erected building called " North Sheffield Hall," thoroughly 
furnished — this cost over $100,000; a gift to the Collier Cabinet 
of $2,700, with other contributions of various sums for current 
expenses, too numerous to mention. Nor was New Haven the 
boundary line of his benefactions ; Trinity College, Hartford, 
shared in these gifts, as did also the Theological Seminary of the 
Northwest, situated in Chicago. The sum of his donations to 
educational institutions was not less than $650,000, without esti- 
mating the smaller sums continually dropping from his hands for 
contingent expenses. Seventy-five thousand dollars were ex- 
pended by him in the establishment of the parish home in connec- 
tion with Trinity Church, in New Haven. 

One very pleasant picture of Mr. Sheffield's character should 
be mentioned in connection with these gifts ; it is that he was not 
solicited for the money, but gave them spontaneously, freely of 
his own will, because he wished to do it; and another trait equally 
pleasant to the recipients was, that he never sought to obtain any 
control in consequence of his gifts, never forced his opinion on the 



JOSEPH EARLE SHEFFIELD. 625 

special application of the money, satisfied that those whose busi- 
ness it was, knew the needs of the college best. During the last 
ten years of his life, in addition to the large and incidental sums 
thus bestowed, Mr. Sheffield donated regularly $10,000 to the 
Sheffield Scientific School. Nor were these public gifts those 
which he most enjoyed distributing ; a lady friend calling on him 
in reference to some charity, while awaiting his appearance, acci- 
dentally saw a list of his private charities to individuals and fam- 
ilies, which amounted to $12,000 per annum. One baker in New 
Haven, for many years previous to Mr. Sheffield's death, had per- 
manent orders from him to furnish a large number of poor persons 
regularly with bread. It ought not to be so very difficult for such 
" a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." 

From the frequency of his largesse to the needy, as well as his 
large possessions, he obtained the sobriquet of "King Sheffield," 
— and truly his nature was royal ; he was a fine specimen of the 
gentleman of the old school, full of true courtesy, of gracious and 
charming simplicity ; there was not the slightest taint of the par- 
venu iu his bearing ; he was tall, a fine figure, a handsome man 
even in old age ; he stood erect, and almost to the last failed to 
show any signs of feebleness in his gait. He closed his long, 
peaceful, and prosperous career on the 16th of February, 1882, 
having reached the great age of eighty-nine ; his widow and six 
children surviving him. His will disposed of property valued at 
$3,142,367, situated in Connecticut, besides real estate in Chicago, 
and in the South. His children are made equal residuary heirs, 
after ample annuities paid to his widow and others. After the 
death of the aged widow, the Sheffield Scientific School will receive 
the final bequest of an additional $339,000. Another valuable be- 
quest was $100,000, in bonds of the New Haven & North 
Hampton Railroad Company, to the Berkeley Divinity School, in 
Middletown, Connecticut; some minor bequests amounting to 
about $50,000. His sons are George St. John Sheffield, of New 
York, and Charles J., of Cleveland, Ohio. 
40 



CHARLES F. CROCKER. 

Mr. Crocker is Vice-President of the Southern Pacific Railroad, 
and is the son of the late Charles Crocker, called " the Croesus of 
the Pacific States," and who was one of the original syndicate which 
projected the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was this gentleman 
of whom the story is told that he was exceedingly fond of repeat- 
ing on all occasions that he was "a self-made man," and that 
after he became immensely wealthy he determined to take a trip 
around the world ; using his favorite phrase to excuse any and 
every deviation from conventional rules of etiquette ; and that, 
being on board of an English vessel passing through the Red Sea, 
where the heat is almost intolerable, he ventured so far with his 
independent notions as to take his seat at the table without his 
coat, remarking as he did so that " a self-made man did not need 
a coat with the thermometer at 1 20 ." His proceeding raised an 
intense feeling of disgust among the passengers, who appealed 
to the captain to have this defiance of custom overruled. Mr. 
Crocker yielded to the suggestion of the commander to resume 
his coat, but not without one more note to the refrain as to his 
being " self-made." 

A quiet old gentleman, who had been watching him with a 
somewhat severe eye, was heard to ejaculate, sotto voce: "What 
a responsibility the Almighty was relieved from when you made 
yourself." Mr. Charles F. Crocker not being so entirely self- 
made, is naturally more amenable to the usual requirements of 
good society. 

Mr. Crocker's assessment on personal property in San Fran- 
cisco sums up $19,187,000, consisting mainly of shares in the Cen- 
(626) 




CHARLES F. CROCKER. 



CHARLES F. CROCKER. 627 

tral Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads; he also has a large 
interest in the Oakland Water Front Company. 

His house is the last of the four palaces of the railroad kings, 
and occupies an entire block, surrounded by four streets. It is a 
spacious mansion, but is not admirable for its architectural style. 
The noble steps that lead to the main entrance, and the wide 
sweep of lawn, which is broken only by an occasional vase or orna- 
mental plant, are its most attractive features. Within, the house 
is adapted for the giving of great entertainments, and is beautifully 
furnished. Mr. Crocker has a valuable collection of pictures, 
mainly the works of foreign artists of the modern school. 

The only son of Mr. Crocker, Charles T., married Miss Easton, 
a niece of D. O. Mills, and he is the possessor of a handsome resi- 
dence in San Francisco, presented to him by his father. Mr. Mills 
gave the bride a beautiful country-house at Menlo. 

When Mr. Crocker died, his family consisted of his widow, this 
son, and one daughter, Miss Hattie Crocker, who is, with perhaps 
one exception, the richest young woman in the United States. 



ELIAS HOWE. 

When the world is ripe for a grand discovery or invention, there 
appears a discoverer or inventor. Unhappily, however, they do 
not always come singly or even in twos or threes, but usually in 
scores, each claiming to be the original ; hence all suffer more or 
less from counter claims, and if there is one absolutely in advance 
of all others his life is usually made wretched, and years of pov- 
erty are entailed upon him by the opposition and obstructions put 
in his way before his claims are officially recognized ; and any in- 
ventor may be counted happy who has not in some unfortunate 
moment of depression sold out his model for a trifle of money, to 
keep himself or family on hither bounds of absolute want. For 
thirty years Elias Howe's life was one long struggle with fate. 
Born in Spencer, Massachusetts, in 1819, one of eight children, his 
father, a miller and farmer, with no superfluous cash, little Elias, 
at the tender age of six years, was set to work to help earn money 
for the family's support. His employment was to stick wire teeth 
into strips of leather, which was then the somewhat primitive 
device for carding cotton. As he grew older he assisted his father 
in the saw-mill and in the grist-mill ; but he was a delicate boy, un- 
fitted for rough work, and suffered much in consequence ; at the 
time when he was only eleven years old, he went out to work for 
a neighboring farmer, but was treated so unmercifully that he had 
to return home to the old work in the mill. Here he gained some 
idea of mechanical power which he put to use in later days. 

When sixteen years eld he went to Lowell and entered a cotton 
factory there as a learner; but at about the end of two years the* 
financial panic of 1837 closed the factory, and he had to look else- 
where for employment. He had added some little to his knowl- 
(628) 



ELIAS HOWE. 



629 



edge of machinery by his observations in Lowell. At this time 
his cousin, N. P. Banks, afterwards Governor of Massachusetts, 
member of Congress, and Major-General of the United States 
(volunteers) army, was at work in a machine-shop in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, and thither Elias Howe went in search of work, 
and obtained it. 

Some observing philosopher has said, that " a young man mar- 
ried is a young man marred." Elias Howe married at the age of 
twenty-one ; with delicate health, and wages of nine dollars a week. 
Three children soon added to his embarrassments. Often unable 
to work, and when he did suffering extremely from exhaustion, his 
wife tried to eke out the means of living by taking in sewing. 
Elias watched, often with heavy heart, this weary process, and set 
his inventive faculties to work to produce a machine to relieve or 
expedite this monotonous labor; and, in 1844, had produced a 
model having a needle pointed at both ends, with the eye in the 
middle, and planned to work vertically through the cloth ; he had 
intended to imitate the action of the human hand, but this proved 
unsuccessful. Then he hit upon the idea of using two threads, 
and forming a stitch by the aid of a shuttle and a curved needle, 
with the eye near the point. This was the germ of his final tri- 
umph, and, in the fall of 1844 (October), he had constructed a 
machine which could be practically used, though not perfect. In 
the meantime he was penniless, and had to go back, taking his 
family w 7 ith him, for shelter in his father's house. His father had 
removed to Cambridge and was then engaged in the stripping of 
the palm-leaf by machinery, for the making of hats. Here, in a 
garret, Elias Howe persevered in the perfecting of his machine, 
but he had no money to get a proper model made, either to ex- 
hibit or through which to procure a patent. 

At last a friend, Mr. George Fisher, offered him the use of a 
room in his house, with board for his family for the winter, and the 
advance of $500 to construct a perfect model, on condition of re- 
ceiving a half right in the patent when obtained. Having no other 
resource Mr. Howe accepted these conditions. In May, 1845, ne 



63O ELIAS HOWE. 

made with his completed machine two woollen suits, one for him- 
self and one for Mr. Fisher. He then secured a patent, but could 
not sell his machines. The tailoring trade of Boston rejected them 
on the ground that it would ruin their business, and other indus- 
tries regarded them with equal suspicion; in brief he received plenty 
of compliments but no cash. Mr. Fisher became disgusted with 
the whole thing, and withdrew further aid. Mr. Howe took his 
family back to his father's house once more, obtaining for himself 
a position as an engineer on a railroad ; but his hopes were 
crushed, and this depression of spirits helped to break down his 
health, and he had to resign. In 1846 he induced his brother 
Amasa to take his machine to London. Here an umbrella-maker 
offered to give $1,250 for the machine, and to pay Mr. Elias Howe 
fifteen dollars a week to run it : he went to England soon after 
sending for his family. Mr. Howe found the umbrella-maker op- 
pressive and exacting, and stayed but eight months with him; he 
was obliged to delay his return for want of funds, and just as he 
reached home his wife died. His few household goods, which he 
sent in another vessel, were lost at sea. 

Discouraged but energetic he obtained employment and was 
able to support his children. He soon found that in his absence 
his machine had been taken up by others, and was being rapidly 
introduced. He then commenced suits to defend his patent-right, 
which, after a litigation of four years, was decided in his favor in 
1854. The era of his prosperity now commenced. He had entered 
previously into partnership with a Mr. Bliss, who had advanced 
him money; his partner died in 1855, and he now became the sole 
proprietor of his patent. His machine received the gold medal at 
the Paris Exposition of 1867, by which year his annual sales of 
"rights" to use his machine amounted to $200,000. In the war 
he gave large sums to the Union cause, and enlisted as a private 
in the Seventeenth regiment of Connecticut Volunteers. At one 
time he paid the whole regiment their delayed claims. He mar- 
ried a second time and died in Brooklyn, Long Island, October 3, 
1877, a ver y r ' cn man. 



THEODORE A. HAVEMEYER. 

Mr. Theodore A. Havemeyer, who is the present head of the 
largest sugar refinery in the United States, and probably in the 
world, is the son of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, who founded the 
large establishment in the Eastern district of Brooklyn (old Wil- 
liamsburg). William F. Havemeyer, who was born in New York 
in 1807, was a well-educated man, though not a college graduate, as 
he left Columbia College in his sophomore year. At that time 
his father and an uncle were in the sugar refinery business in 
Vandam street, New York, where they had started their works in 
a small building twenty-five by forty feet and with one assistant. 
In 1823, when William was about sixteen, he became the appren- 
tice of his father and his uncle, who were in partnership, and the 
latter of whom had learned his trade in England, and knew all 
that was known about it in his day. Young William worked with 
the men for five years, doing everything from passing coal for the 
furnaces to performing the most delicate and complex processes 
of the refining room. The business was even then very profitable, 
combining both the wholesale and retail trade, and at the old place 
in Vandam street ladies in their carriages might often be seen 
ordering from one to twenty " sugar loaves." 

In 1828 Frederick C. Havemeyer was taken into partnership 
with his cousin William F. Havemeyer, and it was the latter who 
was in after years twice elected Mayor of New York. The firm-name 
was W. F. & F. C. Havemeyer, and this arrangement continued 
until 1842, when both of these gentlemen retired from business in 
favor of their brothers Albert and Diedrick. During the same 
year the father of William F. had died, leaving a very considerable 
estate, in the management and investments of which he occupied 

(63O 



632 THEODORE A. HAVEMEYER. 

himself for the ensuing twelve years; varied by some trips to 
the Southern States and to Europe; but rather wearying of this 
comparative inactivity, and desiring to see his sons well estab- 
lished in business, in 1855 Mr. Havemeyer decided to start anew 
in the old work of refining sugar. He took a partner, named 
Townsend, located the business in Williamsburg, and erected the 
orio-inal building which now forms part of the group of buildings 
occupied by the firm of " Havemeyer & Elder," on First street, 
near South Third. 

In 1 861 Mr. Havemeyer s son, George H., and Dwight Town- 
send were added to the firm ; but George was unfortunately killed 
by an accident at the sugar works the same year ; when another 
son, Theodore A., the subject of this sketch, was taken into part- 
nership ; and also a son-in-law, Mr. J. Lawrence Elder ; and it was 
at this period that the firm-name became " Havemeyer & Elder." 
Subsequently, two other sons of Mr. Havemeyer became partners; 
Thomas J. and Henry O., and also a nephew, Charles H. Sneff. 
In 1868 Mr. Elder died; but no change was then made nor has 
since been made in the appellation of the firm. Up to about 1877 
Mr. William F. Havemeyer continued the head of the firm practi- 
cally as well as nominally ; but since the death of the senior part- 
ner, Mr. Theodore, as the elder of the brothers, became the lead- 
ing spirit. The buildings were several times enlarged; but in 
1 88 1 the central building was destroyed by fire, since which time 
it has been rebuilt on a truly gigantic plan ; to carry out his de- 
signs, 'Mr. Havemeyer bought an adjoining building, nine stories 
in height, which was razed to the ground, so that the new building- 
could be erected on a carefully considered plan, combining every 
possible modern improvement and convenience. These immense 
structures, from ten to thirteen stories in height, are erected on 
the East River front, between South Second and South Sixth 
streets, being connected by bridges for the convenience of work- 
men ; they are built of brick and iron, with walls four feet thick at 
the bottom, and two at the top; the floors are also brick, formed of 



THEODORE A. HAVEMEYER. 633 

flat-topped arches, supported by iron columns, beams and girders, 
braced to cast-iron columns, each of which will sustain four hun- 
dred tons. Nothing inflammable enters into the construction. So 
absolutely fire-proof are these buildings that Mr. Havemeyer does 
not insure them. Electric lights are used, and the furnaces are 
built outside, nearer to the docks. The filtering house is one hun- 
dred and fifty feet high. The capacity of production is about 
twelve hundred tons of sugar daily. The total cost of this series 
of great warehouses was $2, 500,000. Mr. Havemeyer owns other 
refineries at the foot of South Ninth street and also North Third 
street. 

In addition to these and other interests in the sugar line Mr. 
Havemeyer is the practical owner of the vast cooperage works, 
occupying an entire block between North Fourth and North Fifth 
streets, which is commonly called " Palmer's Cooperage." Close 
to this is Mr. Havemeyer's freight depot, which is used exclusively 
by the Erie Railroad, and so large is the business of this station 
that it ranks fourth in freight value of all the stations on the Erie 
road ; though Mr. Havemeyer's freightage is far in excess of any 
other individual using this station, it is open not only to other 
business men in the eastern district, but also to other sugar-refiners 
who ship and receive goods at this depot ; and from the increasing 
pressure of business it will soon become absolutely necessary for 
Mr. Havemeyer to extend its facilities. No trains enter this part 
of the city, but trains of cars are taken on and off by barge floats 
several times in the course of a day, and are tugged through the 
East river and round the Battery to Jersey City, whence the 
freight is distributed south and west; in this way it will be 
seen that the coopering business is a natural adjunct to the 
exportation of sugar: all the barrels thus being made at first 
cost saves a large item of expense in conducting this enormous 
business. 

Mr. Havemeyer naturally leaves the details of this business in 
the hands of the younger members of the firm to a great extent ; 



634 THEODORE A. HAVEMEYER. 

indeed, he has been in Europe for a number of years as United 
States Consul to Austria, and when at home spends much time at 
his famous " Mountain-side Farm." This is one of the best known 
farms in the country, situated about two miles from Mahwah sta- 
tion on the Erie Railroad in New Jersey. At the close of a recent 
meeting of the National Agricultural Association in New York, a 
lar^e number of the members went over the road to Mahwah to 

o 

visit this splendid model of millionaire farming. In the midst of 
three hundred acres of level land stands the stately mansion of the 
owner, near which is a " village of buildings " — offices, stables, 
barns, etc., belonging to the place ; the background is formed by 
a portion of the Stirling range of mountains, while the river 
Ramapo flows at the base. One striking feature of the farm ap- 
purtenances is a barn two hundred and sixty-three feet in length, 
broad in proportion, and through it runs a wide carriage-way ; two 
wings, each one hundred and thirty feet long, help to compose this 
remarkable structure ; under this triple roof is contained the silos, 
ice-house, dairy quarters, the machinery, etc. Steam is used for 
all the operations to which it is possible to apply it, and an ample 
supply of pure water is brought through pipes from the river. In 
the stable are permanently kept twenty-five high-bred horses for 
pleasure-driving and riding alone ; but the fame of Mountain-side 
Farm is its dairy and the fine herd of cattle, all from pure Jersey 
(Channel Island) stock. Of these there are over one hundred, 
not reckoning calves : for a bull named Farmer's Glory Mr. Have- 
meyer paid $5,000, and others approximated to that value. The 
yearly sale of the colts and calves at this farm is always an event 
of public interest. No second-class cattle are tolerated on this 
famous farm, and probably there are not three finer cows in the 
world than Mr. Havemeyer's Sultane IV., Regina, and Coomassie. 
The agricultural community are greatly benefited when persons 
of wealth take to " fancy farming," as it is often improperly called. 
Scientific farming it is, and by the introduction of superior breeds 
of horses and cattle, and this distribution of their progeny by sale, 



THEODORE A. HAVEMEYER. 



635 



the standard is naturally raised among farmers of less wealth ; 
while the extended scale on which experiments are made on such 
farms as Mountain-side, save men of smaller means from risking 
their capital uselessly ; whatever is of value in improved modes 
of agriculture and stock-raising is first tested by the millionaire 
farmer, and all others are at liberty to profit by these experi- 
ments. Even in the matter of poultry this great farm fur- 
nishes a model by placing hens, not in a dark prison, but in 
light cheerful houses with glass roofs. Mr. Havemeyer is still in 
middle life, and likely to continue this beneficent work for many 
years to come. 



STEPHEN GIRARD. 

Stephen Girard, whose name is identified with the fame and 
prosperity of Philadelphia, was the son of obscure parents, who 
were natives of Bordeaux, France. His birth occurred May 24, 
1750, in Bordeaux, France, and to his heritage of poverty was 
added a physical deformity that rendered him the butt of ridicule 
to his vulgar schoolmates, and made him acutely sensitive as to 
his personal appearance. He was eight years old before he knew 
that his right eye was blemished — the boys at the village school 
greeting him with the sobriquet "blind eye." His family were 
doubtless indifferent to the defect which caused him so much mor- 
tification in childhood, and was a source of bitter regret to him all 
the days of his life. Like Byron, whose deformed leg cost him 
the contentment of his life, he was intensely sensitive, and was not 
understood, perhaps, by his family. At least he exhibited certain 
defects of character in manhood which were and could only be the 
result of a loveless childhood. That he was a neglected child is 
gathered from the fact that when he learned of his misfortune 
through the jeers of his schoolmates, he went alone to a physician 
and sought his views regarding the extent of the injury of his eye 
— thus exhibiting a quality which distinguished him through life. 
But his courageous act resulted in naught, for his parents, either 
indifferent or prejudiced where they were ignorant, did not follow 
up the advice given and have the operation performed, which he 
was assured would remove the obstacle to his sight. The little lad 
took up his cross, inflicted by others, and however he may have 
suffered he tried no more to relieve himself. Life became irksome 
to him when he was ten years of age, and he left home before he 
was fourteen, and became a cabin-boy on a West India vessel. 
(636) 




STEPHEN GIRARD. 



STEPHEN GIRARD. 637 

His unhappiness at home was due primarily to his disfigurement; 
and secondarily to the fact, that while he was quite young his 
father married again, and the children, of whom there were five, 
and he the eldest, naturally drifted away from the household, where 
a second family came in time to supplant them. Starting out as a 
cabin-boy with a " wall eye," as he was often reminded, he ren- 
dered life endurable by constant industry and a desire to improve 
his defective education. He studied practically, for he was im- 
pelled by the very sensitiveness of his nature to be practical, and 
by his hard necessities to crush the sensibility which was an im- 
pediment to his success. Stephen Girard had a substratum of 
poetry in his nature, and a refinement of feeling which, had it been 
acted upon sooner, would have developed into harmony his less 
attractive qualities. The mother hand was withheld, and the best 
that was in him was blighted. All his life he exhibited the draw- 
backs of a nature that lacked the traits which a mother only can 
first call into being. He was wanting in high appreciation of wo- 
manhood," and his glaring defects were those which a strong 
woman's love could have redeemed. These are not the senti- 
ments which his biographers usually express of him, but they are 
true in fact and sound in theory. One cannot look upon the face 
of this stern, lonely man, as it appears in the portraits and busts 
left of him, and not feel a pang of sympathy for his lot. It was so 
lonely; so uncrowned with romance, or beauty, or bliss. 

Before fourteen years had passed over the head of young Ste- 
phen he had adopted, naturally enough, the profession of his 
father, and began at the lowest round of the ladder as a cabin-boy. 
From that time till he was twenty-three years old he sailed between 
the port of his native town and those West India Islands belong- 
ing to France, during which time he became mate of the vessel on 
which he was engaged. He was then as competent to manage the 
ship as the captain himself; but by French law no youth below the 
age of twenty-five could assume that position. A license was pro- 
cured for young Girard, however, by his father, who advanced the 



6$& STEPHEN GIRARD. 

means by which he was able to make his first trading venture 
upon the seas. At the age of twenty-four, a year afterward, the 
young Frenchman sailed for New York with a cargo of goods, 
and he reached that land which was to be henceforth the scene of 
his labors and his prosperity, in July, 1776. For two years he sailed 
as mate of a ship plying between New York and New Orleans, 
until, by a seeming accident, fortune drifted him into Philadelphia. 

It was in this wise. Being- entangled in a fog at the entrance of 
Delaware bay, as he was sailing northward, he found the only way 
to escape the British cruisers, which were infesting the entry of all 
American ports, was to make all speed up the bay instead of seek- 
ing the coast outside. Having secured a pilot his vessel went up 
the bay followed by a British man-of-war ; but Girard was soon 
safe under the forts of the Delaware. But his occupation was now 
closed. Every harbor was blockaded, and young Girard was 
forced to settle down as a wine-bottler, to which business he 
carried that intensity, perseverance, energy, and industry, which 
had already become the leading qualities of his forceful mind. 
On Water street he rented a little store — that place which was 
his home from that period until his death. Wealth and fashion 
flowed by, taking other portions of the fair city for places of 
residence, in which comfort and luxury could blossom out into 
beauty — little cared he. To all that goes to make life attractive, 
smiling, joyous, " the old man," as he was called before he reached 
the age of thirty, was oblivious. He set every faculty to its ut- 
most task in making a success of business. 

The love of money became an overmastering passion, and for 
it he was compelled to sacrifice much that is necessary to a com- 
plete and rounded manhood. The successful development of 
any one faculty is only obtained at the expense of others. 

And now comes the sad story of his married life. To the pump 
in front of his store came to draw water, among others, a bright, 
pretty servant-girl of sixteen, whom the young trader soon learned 
to watch for, and, in his own way, to love. In two months' time he 



STEPHEN GIRARD. 639 

persuaded her to give up service and become his wife ; she a fresh, 
gay, undisciplined girl; he a grave, preternaturally old, money- 
loving man, eleven years her senior. But Polly Lumm, had she 
preserved health and reason, might have made his life so different. 
She might have kept the domestic instinct alive in the bosom 
which grew hard and stern with the increase of years and of 
wealth. We have reason to believe so, because, to the end of his 
days, Girard loved children. Their prattle, their winsome ways, 
their baby unconsciousness, always pleased him. It was like a 
warm, glowing ray over a bank of snow ; like flowers blooming 
in the cleft of barren rock. However, life seemed propitious 
for her, then. Eight years after marriage she became de- 
ranged and was placed in the Pennsylvania Hospital. The only 
issue of this ill-starred marriage was born while Mrs. Girard was 
insane, and most fortunately it died. During the years that she 
was an inmate of that institution (where she died thirty-eight 
years after their marriage, in 1815) her husband returned to his old 
occupation, and spent much time at sea. Meanwhile the country 
was at war with England, and Philadelphia suffered in common 
with all parts of the country. Girard took no part in the struggle, 
and gave his time to the business he had more closely now than 
ever devoted himself to. His brother John was in business in 
St. Domingo, and Stephen formed connection with the house he 
was associated with, and in order to extend his business took a 
partner. The plan did not prosper and he dissolved it shortly, 
and took his brother in with him. This arrangement no more 
than the first one suited him, and he severed his connection with 
his brother, between whom and himself no very cordial feeling ex- 
isted. Girard was of an exceedingly arbitrary disposition, and he 
could not endure to be restrained or counselled by others. Until 
he was utterly alone in the world again his prosperity was not 
great. He made his fortune in a period succeeding 1786, and the 
foundation of it, though laid by his own hands, was strengthened 
by the large accessions he received through the insurrection of 



64O STEPHEN GIRARD. 

the negroes at St. Domingo. He had two vessels in port at the 
time, and they became the repository of much valuable property 
which the planters intrusted to their officers for safe-keeping. 
Many of the owners of this property were massacred, and Girard 
found himself, when his vessels returned to Philadelphia, over 
fifty thousand dollars richer than he was before. With this addi- 
tion to his fortune he set about building ships and increasing his 
wealth by expanding commerce between Philadelphia and numer- 
ous foreign ports. It is but fair to say that this statement has 
been denied by some authorities. 

The yellow fever broke out in its most fatal form in Philadel- 
phia, in July, 1793, and the city soon became a vast pestilential 
hospital. In the midst of the epidemic, when nurses could not be 
had for love nor money, Mr. Girard and Peter Helm, members of 
the committee organized to take active measures for the relief of 
the sick, volunteered to personally take charge of the hospital. 
Mr. Girard entered upon his duties the same day, and for sixty 
days he worked day and night in the discharge of his duties. 
Some years later the fever again raged in Philadelphia, and Mr. 
Girard again contributed largely of his means and devoted him- 
self to the care and service of the sick. Such noble deeds are 
rare in the history of pestilences, and they were not forgotten by 
his fellow-citizens. Nothing won for the name of Girard such 
fame as did his presence in the hospitals at a time when every one 
felt afraid to remain in the city, and when the sick were left to die 
in many instances by members of their families, who were panic- 
stricken and fled through terror. Some divinity was in the heart of a 
man who could make such sacrifices for the good of his fellow-men. 

In another light Mr. Girard's character exhibited some fine 
traits, such as one would not expect to find in one so fond of 
money and so indifferent to the mass of people. On the death of 
his brother John, he took charge of his three little girls, now left 
wholly orphaned. They were sent to good schools, their individ- 
ual tastes were consulted, and his house was their home. Perhaps 



STEPHEN GIRARD. 64 1 

it was through their unconscious influence that, as he gathered 
wealth, he began to fit up the old house in Water street, and make 
it less dingy and more habitable. Visitors came and went up the 
dingy staircase, and dined and wined with the grim old man, who 
was never happier than when feasting them on food of which he 
would never taste. Among these was Joseph Bonaparte, who fre- 
quently came to Philadelphia from his home in Bordentown, New 
Jersey. The young nieces attracted attention, and, no doubt, were 
forced to exercise their wits in order to secure the pleasures which 
are so natural and so necessary to the young. He cared noth- 
ing for recreation and amusements: why should they? He liked 
them, but they must disturb neither him nor the settled order of 
his life. It is even recorded that they slipped away, one or 
another of them, Cinderella-like, to entertainments and merry- 
makings, and were let in when all was over by the housekeeper, 
and their uncle never the wiser for it all. At ten o'clock he was 
in bed, and supposed they were. The world was made for work : 
what was not work was foolishness. 

His life brightened a little as we contemplate it at his farm a few 
miles out of Philadelphia. There must have been something 
genuine about his tastes, for he seemed to love all things which 
grew and flourished about this place. When he visited there it 
was as no amateur. Driving out in a wretched-looking old gig, 
with a horse equally old and ill-favored, the millionaire went to 
work like one of the men whom he employed. He was fond of 
hard work and fairly revelled in it ; he dug and planted, raked 
and hoed as if his life depended upon the labors of his own hands. 
Like everything else which he had to do with, he exacted from it 
cent for cent. It was no modern fancy farming, in which every- 
thing went in and nothing came out. He put into farming the 
same far-sightedness and intelligence which made him successful 
in anything which he undertook. And this is the secret of his 
success : he became a thorough master of the business in which he 
engaged. He was familiar with every detail ; nothing happened 
41 



642 STEPHEN GIRARD. 

by chance ; relying on his own judgment, aided by unusual powers 
of observation, rendered him cool, self-reliant, fearless. He ex- 
acted the most perfect obedience from those whom he employed ; 
he was a veritable Shylock where business was at stake. 

Meanwhile he established Girard's Bank, prior to the expira- 
tion of the charter of the Bank of the United States, which Con- 
gress failed to renew, and, backed by his millions, he was able to 
compete with the National treasury itself. He became the first 
banker in the United States, and by means of his wealth was able 
to sustain the public credit and preserve the currency. The busi- 
ness of the old Bank of the United States was transferred to his 
bank, and with a capital of one million two hundred thousand dol- 
lars, and the funds of the old bank, amounting to not less than 
five millions of specie, he commenced business under cheering 
auspices, and was the one prosperous man in a nation of people 
injured by the non-renewal of the charter of the National bank. 
He bought the banking-house and the cashier's house at less 
than one-third their cost, paying one hundred and twenty thousand 
dollars for them, and from the day of its establishment he assisted 
the country by enabling the government to re-arrange its fiscal 
affairs, and to its frequent demands for his services immediately 
following the suspension of specie payments. The integrity of 
the man was shown at this time of panic ; he lost the advantages 
that would have accrued from another source, but his bank never 
refused to pay the specie for a note of his. 

Previous to this time lie was elected to represent his fellow- 
citizens in the Councils of Philadelphia, and he was at the time 
and subsequently a director of many public institutions. He gave 
his time to whatever was worthy the gift, and time was money to 
him, and these occupations were the only relaxation he had. The 
begging letters sent him, the many calls at his door for alms, 
were, as a rule, ignored. He had no patience with idleness and 
indolence, and his wealth brought him the sore trial of sycophants. 

His fortune was a large one for his day ; he died worth $7,500,- 



STEPHEN GIRARD. 643 

000, but it is not a large one as fortunes are now measured. 
Nearly all his property was bequeathed to the public. To Penn- 
sylvania he gave $300,000 ; to Philadelphia for local improve- 
ments, $500,000 ; for the different institutions of charity in and about 
Philadelphia, $i 16,000 ; and for the erection and endowment of 
his college he gave $6,000,000. His relatives and next of kin 
received $140,000; and he left annuities to persons in his employ; 
to his servants and to those of his captains who would bring his 
vessels safely into port. He also gave to the cities of New Or- 
leans and Philadelphia 280,000 acres of land situated in Louisiana ; 
but this land was subsequently lost to the legatees by a decision 
of the Supreme Court. 

" Contemplating the humility of his origin, and contrasting there- 
with the variety and extent of his works and wealth, the mind is 
filled with admiration of the man, and profoundly impressed with 
the value of his example." " His person, his home, and his habits 
evinced the love of what was simple, and he was a devoted friend 
to those principles of civil and religious liberty which are the basis 
of the political fabric of his adopted country." The noblest act 
of his life was his thoughtfulness in giving to children a part of 
his wealth. It is this act that makes his name a living one among 
his fellow-countrymen to-day. Long years ago his body crumbled 
back to dust, but not while that magnificent college stands, or 
the thousands of lads who have enjoyed its benefits live, will 
he be forgotten. To go over its grand dimensions and see the 
orphans and half-orphans who are there learning to build their 
lives better than he was taught to direct his, is an inspiring sight. 
There are few more so in America. He never forgot his child- 
hood or the sufferings he endured as a homeless boy, and he has 
made it possible for thousands upon thousands of lads to say, 
"We owe our education and our start in life to him who was once 
like us, ' a poor boy.' " 



PETER McGEOCH. 

In the month of June, 1883, tne cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, 
Cincinnati, and even New York experienced a brief period of un- 
wonted excitement, when it was reported that the great "lard 
king, Peter McGeoch," of the firm of " McGeoch, Everingham & 
Co.," had failed, with liabilities of over $6,000,000. If Mr. 
McGeoch was a man whom any financial misfortune could deprive 
of spirit and energy, we might properly leave him out of this vol- 
ume ; but though temporarily overwhelmed, if he lives, it is rea- 
sonably certain that he will reappear on Change and rebuild his 
fortunes, perhaps higher than before. He is of the irrepressible 
kind. He is of Scotch birth, being a native of Dumfrieshire, where 
he entered this breathing world in the month of May, 1833. He 
first appeared in financial circles in the West about 1856-57. He 
was then in Milwaukee in the grain trade, but afterwards took up 
the pork-packing business. In 1876 he was a participator in the 
famous " Lindbloom deal " in wheat, and was a heavy loser ; but 
in '78 he engineered the successful "July corner," by which he 
made enormous profits. He was a very bold speculator, and 
since that time has been in several other deals, out of all of which 
he emerged with victory on his side. 

Mr. McGeoch was at one time known in Wisconsin as the 
" Milwaukee Milkman." It seems he had been partly raised on a 
farm, which his father owned at Waterloo in that State, and there 
learned something about the care of cattle ; but Peter did not see 
any money in that kind of life, and he started out for himself, tak- 
ing a contract for hauling stone for the building of the State capi- 
tol at Madison. It was while thus employed that he became 
acquainted with one Van Kirk, with whom he formed a partner- 
(644) 



PETER m'gEOCH. 645 

ship to buy and ship wheat from Fox Lake to Milwaukee, Van 
Kirk to remain at the latter city, and Mr. McGeoch to make his 
headquarters at the lake; this was about 1858. This partnership 
continued about fourteen years, during which period the firm was 
exceedingly successful, both partners making large fortunes ; when, 
becoming bolder, they planned a corner in wheat, which proved 
utterly disastrous ; the accumulation of years was swept away, and 
at the end of 1872 both were poor men again; Van Kirk retired 
from the struggle disheartened; but McGeoch fell on his feet, 
picked himself up, and started once more in the race, finally re- 
gaining a business footing. The partnership of Van Kirk and 
McGeoch had not been limited to dealings in grain : they did a 
general commission business, had a large pork-packing establish- 
ment, and McGeoch had besides several farms on which he kept 
fancy stock. When the firm went under, a fellow-countryman of 
McGeoch, a banker, named Alexander Mitchell, came to his assist- 
ance to the amount altogether of $100,000. It was while he was 
endeavoring to recover himself, after his failure in 1872, from 
which he had saved nothing except his farms, that he started an 
extensive milk business, running his wagons into Milwaukee ; it 
was at this period that he obtained the sobriquet of the " Milwau- 
kee Milkman." 

Through the generous aid of Alexander Mitchell, Mr. McGeoch 
had so far recovered himself, that by 1875 he had paid off all his 
old debts, and his profits were rolling up into very large figures. 
It was not until 1880 that the firm of " McGeoch, Everingham & 
Co." established themselves in' Chicago ; and so large were the 
operations of the senior partner that to a great extent he con- 
trolled the market, and so persuaded was he that he could con- 
tinue to do so, under all circumstances, that over self-confidence 
finally led him to engage in the "lard corner" of 1883, which 
brought on his last failure. 

When, on the 16th of June, it was whispered on Change that 
Peter McGeoch was not putting up his margins, it was at first re- 



646 PETER m'gEOCH. 

garded as a canard ; but when large sales began to be made " on 
account of whom it may concern," it was realized that the rumor 
was true — that the king of the " lard corner " had failed. The ex- 
planation was this : in buying for future delivery he had believed 
he could control the market ; and when the lard that he had been 
four months accumulating for delivery in July, and which he be- 
lieved was going to rise in price, instead of rising, when offered 
for sale in June, began to drop, for the reason that there was no 
real scarcity, it was all over with him. On the 15th of June, 1883, 
"July lard" was sold at $11.17^ ; on the 16th it fell to $10.65; 
then dropped to $9.05, and at last to $8.90 ; and over 300,000 
tierces were sold on the account of McGeoch. The excitement 
was intense, and the panic may be partly imagined, when sales 
were made at the same time, within speaking distance of each 
other, with a difference of twenty or thirty cents for the same qual- 
ity of goods ; buyers and sellers lost their heads together. It 
seems that McGeoch's friend, Alexander Mitchell, the Milwaukee 
banker, had not approved of this " lard corner," and when Mc- 
Geoch found himself going down, Mitchell, on whom he had relied, 
refused his help. He had forewarned McGeoch that the specula- 
tion was too vast. The depreciation on the 300,000 tierces sold 
for the lard king on the 16th of June was over $1,000,000. But 
this was not the limit of his losses, only one item among many ; 
the accommodation which he asked from Mitchell and failed to get 
was $5,000,000. The effect of the failure in New York was very 
marked : at one time, within eight minutes, the price of lard fell ^ 
of a cent in three quotations, an unprecedented fluctuation in that 
article. Colonel C. H. Smith, a dealer of twenty years standing, 
said that it was " the worst break he had ever seen." 

It was reported at the time that " Uncle Peter " had saved abso- 
lutely nothing, that even his wife's interests had been sacrificed — • 
voluntarily on her part — to raise money to pay his indebtedness. 
The feeling of the street it must be admitted was not very sympa- 
thetic ; Mr. McGeoch had spared no one in his speculations, and 



PETER M'GEOCH. 647 

though always ready to assist a friend, in the matter of trade he 
used all the advantages which the rules of the exchange allowed. 
Over-scrupulousness was not his fault ; but it is also true that he 
was square and honest in his dealings on the street, but his 
superior sharpness was their misfortune ; he was not inclined to 
moderate his own financial skill to suit the exigencies of the 
weaker sort. It was in a measure his great reputation for shrewd- 
ness that led to his downfall. He felt that he had this reputation 
to maintain, and that the very boldness of his deal would tide him 
over any ordinary break in the market, though for some time pre- 
vious drafts had been coming in at the rate of $150,000 a day. 
Thus the catastrophe had its preliminary warnings ; only a week 
before the failure, $850,000 of the firm had been swallowed up in 
margins for settlement with banks outside of Chicago. Another 
item in the history of this great failure is the claim McGeoch 
makes that there was a conspiracy to ruin him ; but the facts ap- 
pear to be simply these : There is in Chicago, among other agents 
of English houses, a firm of very large dealers known as the 
"Fowler Brothers," from whom McGeoch had bought very largely, 
but who had declined his offer to go into this last deal with him ; 
but when Mr. McGeoch found himself overloaded, he at the same 
time believed that he had also discovered that the Fowlers were 
adulterating their "prime steam lard." He made this charge pub- 
licly ; they resented it, and used, as he says, " all their influence to 
injure his credit," and to prevent his obtaining the usual bank 
facilities ; it is certain that the Bank of Montreal, in which they 
had influence, called upon him unexpectedly to "take up his lard," 
which meant that he must immediately pay the money which he 
had borrowed on 125,000 tierces of lard. 

With his personal friends Mr. McGeoch rates high as a man of 
honor. One of the leading operators on Change said of him 
the day after the failure : " I do not believe that Peter McGeoch 
has against his record a single act of unfairness ; and whatever 
he has done, or attempted to do in his business, he never stepped 



648 PETER m'gEOCH. 

beyond what he believed to be its legitimate bounds." He was 
not a man to make acquaintance readily with every new-comer, 
but is a true, firm, and reliable friend. Mr. McGeoch, though in 
business in Chicago, lived in the suburbs of Milwaukee, about 
four miles out of the city, in a house built about two years 
ago. It is situated on rising ground, commanding a fine view, 
and is nearly opposite the Soldiers' Home. There is a large 
stretch of land surrounding it, which includes a fine grove and a 
lake. His stable contained some very valuable stock. His family 
consists of a wife, three daughters and a young son, now about 
fifteen. His wife and daughters are brave women ; though accus- 
tomed to every luxury, they were prepared to give up everything 
-—their horses, carriages, and servants — the daughters assuring 
their father that they could work and earn their own living. Mr. 
McGeoch had been very liberal with his money, not only to his 
relatives but to others. He built a house at Toma, which he 
gave to his aged parents and a crippled sister. He has helped 
his younger brothers — for one of them he stocked a ranch in 
Kansas. The cashier of the Mitchell Bank, when asked what 
effect the failure would have on Milwaukee, replied : <k I don't 
know that it will have any decided effect, but Mr. McGeoch has 
been a good man for the city, spending his money liberally in 
ways to benefit the public, and therefore, of course, we feel for 
him in this disaster." 

In personal appearance Mr. McGeoch very much resembled 
the late President Garfield ; he had a straight, commanding 
figure, high forehead and penetrating eyes, and wore his hair 
and beard, which were of the same color as Garfield's, cut and 
dressed in the same style as that of the Ohio martyr. The 
great lard speculator had expressed his intention of retiring from 
business the present year. The latest accounts from Chicago, 
up to the present writing, state that the creditors were prepared 
to compromise on a basis of fifty per cent. It is understood that 
Mr. McGeoch will devote his attention for the present to the 



PETER M'GEOCH. 649 

Milwaukee street railroad line, in which, as the projector, he is 
naturally much interested. The stock of this road was depos- 
ited in Mitchell's Bank as collateral for borrowed money, but 
the bank having taken no steps to secure the title, and wishing 
to deal handsomely by McGeoch in his trouble, will allow him to 
redeem the stock from the future earnings of the road; this 
property is very valuable, and will form a sound basis on which 
the bold speculator may once more hope to rise to affluence. A 
short time after the failure he said to a friend: "I am now 
about as poor as a man can be. If my best friend were in need 
I don't think I could raise $500 for him, but I am not dead by 
any means, and as soon as a full settlement is made, I shall go to 
work again." 



EX-GOVERNOR JOSEPH E. BROWN. 

Joseph E. Brown, long a resident of Georgia, but a native of 
South Carolina, is a type of character very little known, and less 
understood out of his own region of country, than almost any 
class of persons we have had occasion to deal with in these pages. 
To large numbers of Northern people the South is divided into 
three classes : the aristocratic, late slave-holding class, and " poor 
whites," and the negroes ; this general classification might at some 
time have been true of limited sections of the country, but in the 
immense region stretching from the Atlantic to beyond the Mis- 
sissippi, and from the Ohio to the Gulf, there have always been 
more or less Southerners who, while not rich, should never be 
classed with the " poor whites," as that phrase is usually under- 
stood ; for the class we i*efer to are self-helpful, enterprising and 
industrious, and may be depended upon to rise above their early 
beginnings, and many of them through trade and commerce, or the 
professions, have gained not only positions of affluence, but of 
political and social eminence. Mr. Brown had few advantages in 
early life, and no hereditary wealth to rely upon, but he was ambi- 
tious in his youth, and managed to get a fair education in his 
native State, spending at least two years in advanced studies at an 
academy. His aim was to become a lawyer, but he must first earn 
the means to enter upon that study. After leaving the academy 
he removed to Georgia, and for several years taught school in the 
northwestern counties of that State, utilizing all his leisure time in 
the perusal of law books, and for some months was nominally in a 
law-office ; as it was necessary to have had instruction, either in 
college or in a private office, before applying for admission to the 
bar, to which he was admitted in his twenty-fourth year. 
(650) 



EX-GOVERNOR JOSEPH E. BROWN. 65 1 

Though Mr. Brown had easily passed the local examination, he 
was well aware that his legal education was deficient, and he 
applied the first substantial fruits of his practice to pay for his tui- 
tion at the Law School at Yale College, in Connecticut. Thus, 
having tested his knowledge among his 'peers, and followed the 
lectures there with diligence, he returned to the State of his adop- 
tion, Georgia, and entered upon the practice of law in good earn- 
est. He was very successful, and naturally gained influence, not 
only among his clientage, but with the politicians of his county and 
Congressional district. When only twenty-seven (in 1849) he 
was elected to the State Senate, and three years later was one of 
the Electors who nominated Franklin Pierce to the Presidency. 
In his profession his rise was equally rapid, being appointed Judge 
of the Circuit Court in 1855, an ^ many are the legends in that 
mountain district, where he presided, of " old Judge Brown's " 
rulings; though he was comparatively a young man, the word 
" old " seems a favorite prefix for any one in official station there. 

Judge Brown was a Democrat of the most pronounced school, 
a firm believer in the doctrine of State Rights, as interpreted by 
the most rigid constructionists, and as such was elected Governor 
of Georgia in 1856, a period when the anti-slavery furore was at 
its height in the North, and when the South felt that all its mate- 
rial interests were being sacrificed under the pressure of a moral 
fanaticism which they could not understand. When the great con- 
flict came, the "irrepressible conflict," Governor Brown naturally 
stood by his old doctrine of State Rights, and, believing those 
rights to be endangered, he took his stand with the advocates of 
Secession, and on that platform was elected governor in 1861, and 
again in 1863. He was always spoken of in the South as " the 
War Governor" of Georgia, and as such, during the war, his fame 
outreached the local boundaries of the State and became national. 

During the continuance of the war Governor Brown applied all 
his energies, and, so far as he could, the resources of the State to 
the support of the Confederate government ; there was never any 



652 . EX-GOVERNOR JOSEPH E. BROWN. 

doubt where he stood, for he was never a man of half measures 
or timid counsels. So he was equally decisive when peace was 
declared. Then he took his stand with the dominant party: he 
saw, with his clear vision, that all the old order of things had 
passed away forever, and that all who would not be submerged in 
the revolution and the overthrow of political parties must be pre- 
pared to swim with the tide ; opposition, he realized, would be as 
useless as senseless; he therefore, during the reconstruction 
period, came out boldly as a Republican. It was soon after this 
change of base that he met with the only defeat of his life in the 
domain of politics. In 1868 he aspired to serve his State at 
Washington as United States Senator ; the election fell in the 
Legislature of Georgia, and he was defeated, the successful candi- 
date being Joshua Hill ; before the people he always carried the 
" Joseph E. Brown " flag to victory. 

Mr. Brown's disappointment at losing the Senatorship was soon 
obliterated in the new judicial honor awaiting him ; he was shortly 
thereafter appointed by Governor Bullock Chief-Justice of the 
Supreme Court of Georgia, a position which he filled to his own 
honor and that of the State until the latter end of 1870, when he 
resigned for business reasons. Judge Brown had been a large 
investor in iron and coal mines, and the development of these, 
their productiveness and profit, turned largely upon the facilities 
offered of getting the ore and mineral to a market, the vicinity to 
a railroad station being the turning-point in values in all mining 
countries. About this time he was invited to take the Presidency 
of the Western Atlantic Railroad Company, in which he was a 
large bond-holder, and he resigned his judgeship in order to 
accept it, and thus put himself in a position to benefit his mining 
interests. 

As Judge Brown's connection with the Republicans was a mat- 
ter of State policy and not true affiliation, it is what might be ex- 
pected that, under favoring circumstances, we should find him 
returning to the party of his convictions. Hence, in 1872, he was 



EX-GOVERNOR JOSEPH E. BROWN. 653 

nominated by the Democratic party in the Legislature and ap- 
pointed to the United States Senate as successor to General Gor- 
don, who had resigned. At the close of the term he was re-elected 
to his seat over a very popular candidate, General A. R. Lawton ; 
and was again elected, his own successor, for the term ending in 
1885. 

Considering the number and importance of the professional and 
political offices filled by Mr. Brown, one would think his time 
would be amply filled by official duties ; we find, however, as a 
matter of fact, that he was more of a business man than he was 
a jurist or a statesman. He has always been in business of some 
kind, and always of the paying sort. He probably took in the 
situation of the altered condition of the South more radically and 
completely than any man there who had been so pronounced a 
Southern partisan. One thing which helped him to this was the 
youthful buoyancy of his spirits; he had not suffered from the war 
in person or estate as many others ; his money was not invested 
in cotton plantations, which might have been confiscated, or in 
slaves, which became " contraband of war." He saw a grand 
future opening out for the South under the new order of things, 
and was able to bury his prejudices, that he might make the most 
of them. He saw his own State of Georgia — a State that can 
grow a million bales of cotton annually — exporting that cotton to 
Northern States to be woven into textile fabrics, and he concluded 
that it was time to stop that wasteful process ; he advocated the 
building of cotton-mills, and he has lived to see fifty of these struc- 
tures erected and operated in Georgia, and paying from eight to 
ten per cent, dividends. Georgia is a well-watered country, with 
numerous waterfalls, and many of these mills are run by that inex- 
pensive motive power; while lumber and grist-mills have grown 
in equal proportion. Everything which would help the material 
interests of the State was sure of his aid. He was an active pro- 
jector and became the official head of the recent Cotton Exposi- 
tion at Atlanta. 



654 EX-GOVERNOR JOSEPH E. BROWN. 

The project of the Cotton Exposition, as conceived by him, was 
not only for the benefit of his own State, but with the larger view 
of putting the whole South in its new and improved attitude before 
the people of all sections of the Union. Believing that there was 
much ignorance in regard to the condition of the late slave States, 
Mr. Brown thought at least to convince his fellow-citizens of the 
North that there was a new spirit of energy developing among his 
people, but little understood by those who had not travelled 
through the country. And he was right. Right, too, in his judg- 
ment that the Atlanta Exposition would do something to dispel 
the ignorance and prejudice which still brooded over this fair por- 
tion of the national territory. Among other objects of interest at 
Atlanta there was given a condensed statement of the productions 
of the various Southern States, and when Governor Brown saw 
business men of the North poring over such items (a few of which 
we shall give), he felt, as a citizen of the crushed Confederacy, 
proud of his section, which had rallied so wonderfully from the 
devastating footsteps of a four years' war. Among these inter- 
esting statistics, we note that Virginia comes to the front with a 
State steamship line direct to Europe; foreign capitalists have also 
invested millions of dollars in her iron and coal mines ; thousands 
of acres have been put under cultivation, which have increased 
certain crops eightfold; she has thirty-five lines of railroads within 
her boundaries; she has a dozen cotton factories, and a hundred 
and fifty tobacco factories, with an increase of population of 
300,000 in the last ten years. Georgia has three thousand miles 
of railroad ; her factories are the most numerous of any single 
State in the South ; population nearly 400,000 greater in 1880 
than in 1870. Alabama has a large number of cotton-mills, paying 
excellent dividends, as do also her cotton-seed oil-mills. Her 
iron mines have been developed to the extent of creating several 
good-sized cities ; one of these new cities has a population of 
12,000; the output of her coal-fields amounts to a million and a 
quarter tons a year; the produce of her lumber-mills is nearly 



EX-GOVERNOR JOSEPH E. BROWN. 655 

nineteen million feet per annum. South Carolina also has her 
cotton-mills, and has created a new industry worth millions of dol- 
lars, in market-gardening, supplying the great cities of New York 
and Philadelphia with thousands of tons of fruits and vegetables. 
Phosphate factories stud her river-banks, and her State debt is 
being rapidly reduced.* In Tennessee the great staple of whiskey 
has been cultivated with such energy that production has had to 
be suspended; in the year 1 88 1—2 64,000,000 gallons were dis- 
tilled, since which an agreement has been made by the leading 
distillers to keep the production down to 1 2,000,000 gallons per 
annum. In Mississippi there has been spent the last few years 
$20,000,000 in the construction of railroads. Texas is so rich as 
to be buying up and retiring her bonds, which are quoted at 140; 
and so the encouraging record reads, and it is to just such men as 
Governor Brown that this high tide of prosperity has followed the 
natural depression of the war. In his addresses to his fellow- 
citizens, he has urged upon them the fact that the future of Geor- 
gia and the whole South must hereafter depend not upon this crop 
or that, in the vague general way in which they formerly put their 
faith in "King Cotton/' but in the individual enterprise and energy 
of the citizens, and he has met with a very hearty and encouraging 
response. He also advocates the instruction of the blacks — 
" since the franchise has been forced upon them," he says, " let 
them be fitted to exercise it." 

Governor Brown is one of the most remarkable men which the 
South has produced ; it has been very rare indeed for a young 
man with no social connections and no money to become a sex- 
tuple millionaire. His political success has been equally remark- 
able ; he has never been beaten before the people, his only defeat 
having occurred in the legislature. Yet he was not a man con- 
stitutionally fitted to win the smiles of the multitude ; he was 
originally very brusque, sometimes even rough in manner; and 
his style of progress was by main force of intellect, and not by 
finessing or flattering the prejudices of the crowd : he is a man of 



656 EX-GOVERNOR JOSEPH E. BROWN. 

and from the people, and in no sense represents the old slave- 
holding aristocracy. Another peculiarity is, that though now over 
sixty years of age, there is no trace of antiquated ideas in his com- 
position; he is alive to every improvement, and radical innovations 
have no terrors for him. Though nearly forty years of age when 
the war of secession broke out, he manfully cut adrift from all the 
cloo-s and hindrances of the old Southern traditions when the right 
time came, and entered upon the new life with his people, as if 
the past had no existence. He lives for the present and the next 
future. 

Since Governor Brown's election to the United States Senate, 
and his opportunity to mingle with people from different sections 
of the country has been enlarged, it has been observed that his 
naturally aggressive manner has considerably toned down, and 
though still as strong a partisan as ever, he can listen with more 
patience to the utterance of views differing from his own. He 
has made many enemies in his past life, but he will make fewer in 
the future. But even his political enemies are constrained to 
wonder at and admire his wonderful success. In person Senator 
Brown is tall and slim, with gray hair and whiskers, and he habit- 
ually uses glasses ; but though on the wrong side of sixty, he is 
as ready for new plans and enterprises as the youngest man in 
Congress. He is very free with his money, and responds most 
readily to any appeal for aid. He lately gave $50,000 to the Uni- 
versity of Georgia, and though by birth belonging to the old order 
of things, is in reality a representative man of " the coming 
Georgian." He is the richest Southern man in the Senate. The 
lowest estimate puts his income at $1,000 per day, and there are 
few Southerners yet who can equal that ; but he is still in the way 
of adding to his $6,000,000, and it is impossible to foresee how 
many millions he may yet add to his ample fortune. 

Although certainly the wealthiest man in Atlanta, and probably 
in Georgia, no one who passes his plain, unpretentious house on 
Peach Tree street would ever imagine it to be the home of a 



EX-GOVERNOR JOSEPH E. BROWN. 657 

millionaire , though internally supplied with every comfort, there 
is no indication of extravagance either in furnishing or attendance. 
He has no special hobbies, lives moderately, and seems to require 
no recreations or journeys " for his health," as is so much the 
fashion with people of means. There is no pretence or sham 
about him ; in conversation he is clear and logical, and brings his 
sentences down with a sort of trip-hammer force, which would* 
utterly discourage a weak opponent. The greatest lack in his 
composition is the absence of the element of humor; you may 
strike the hard rock of his common-sense and you will be sure to 
wake a solid, sensible reply, but never a spark of wit. He is not 
given to story-telling, nor is he a subject of them, which is a loss 
to the biographer but speaks well for him. Georgia may well be 
proud of her ex-Governor and present Senator, as he has a right 
to be proud of his State. 
42 



BENJAMIN BRANDRETH. 

It is a very common thing for even intelligent persons to con- 
demn all vendors of patent medicines as charlatans and unprin- 
cipled vampires, who coin money out of the credulity of their 
victims ; but to those who knew personally the late Dr. Brandreth 
it was certain that no such suspicion could attach to him. He be- 
lieved in his own remedy, and never took any other ! His family 
also shared his good opinion of the " Brandreth pills." Benjamin 
was born in Leeds, England, January 23, 1809. His father having 
died a few months before his birth, he was brought up by his 
grandfather, Dr. William Brandreth, from whom he learned the 
uses and compounding of drugs, which he afterwards turned to 
such profitable account. When quite young, before his majority, 
he married a Miss Smallpage, who had a dowry of about four 
hundred pounds, which helped the young couple to start comfort- 
ably in life, but that was all ; and Mr. Brandreth, as his family 
increased, turned his eyes towards America as promising a better 
future for himself and for them than the land of his birth could 
offer him. So he brought his family to New York, some six years 
after his marriage, and took apartments in Hudson street, where 
he commenced the manufacture, with his own hands, of his cele- 
brated pills. 

The success was phenomenal : in his little shop " he took in less 
than two years $90,000 over the counter." He now found it 
necessary to establish a factory on a large scale, and selected a 
site near Sing Sing, on the Hudson ; and he then commenced that 
series of sensational advertisements which soon made his pills 
known throughout the civilized world. Of course he was annoyed, 
and to some extent injured, by the numerous counterfeits of his 
(658) 




B BRANDRETH. 



BENJAMIN BRANDRETH. 659 

pills which appeared, but he attacked these very vigorously and 
succeeded in driving them from the market. 

In 1849 Dr. Brandreth was elected to the State Senate, and 
again in 1859, and to those inclined to sneer at " patent medicine 
men " we commend the following fact in proof of Benjamin 
Brandreth's high sense of honor in the fulfilment of his senatorial 
duties. On one occasion he was the only Senator who voted 
against a bill (which was very generally disapproved) and for which 
he had been tendered $50,000 for his support and vote ! The 
newspapers of the day very justly styled him, in large type, "The 
Bold Brandreth." 

About 1848 Dr. Brandreth bought out all of Mr. Alcock's in- 
terest in the popular "porous plasters;" this was not an immediate 
success, the ingredients not being properly mixed to insure just 
the right consistency ; but after some few experiments the right 
composition was effected, and these became a great source of 
profit, when the fashion of taking pills for every human ill began 
to subside. Miles in length of these plasters are still made 
weekly, and the annual profit from the sales is not less than 
$100,000. 

Dr. Brandreth was one of those persons who used his money 
freely in dispensing happiness to others; he was not only charitable 
in the common acceptation of the word, but took a real pleasure 
in helping individuals forward in life who had not his talent or 
opportunity for making money, particularly young men who needed 
a start, either to complete their studies or to commence business; 
and his later years were often cheered by news from his former 
beneficiaries, who wrote, perhaps from some distant State, thank- 
ing him for the early help which had enabled them to obtain posi- 
tions of prominence and usefulness. To his employes he was a 
most generous and thoughtful master, and they were consequently 
much attached to him, and, aside from his immediate family, none 
deplored his loss more than those " factory hands," for whom he 
had always a kind word, and whose trials and sorrows he sympa- 



660 BENJAMIN BRANDRETH. 

thized with, not only in words, but in solid cash if the case called 
for it. He was a man of some culture, too ; very fond of poetry, 
and familiar with all the best English poets, which his good 
memory enabled him to quote in the most apropos manner. 

His home at Sing Sing, New York, on the banks of the Hud- 
son, is one of the notable residences of that place. The place is 
a beautiful one, with handsome and extensive grounds, and near 
by are residences of several of his children. He identified him- 
self with the town, and was a benefactor to it in many ways. As 
a citizen he was a model, and his death was a calamity to the peo- 
ple with whom he had so long identified himself in all good works. 

Dr. Brandreth maintained unusually good health almost up to 
the hour of his death, and was thus in his own person an excellent 
witness to the value of his own wares. He died very suddenly, 
being found dead on the floor of his room without any previous 
illness, in 1879. His large property, with the exception of a few 
legacies, went to his family. 



ROBERT L. STUART. 

Mr. Robert L. Stuart, known throughout the United States as 
one of the most extensive sugar refiners in the country, was born 
in the city of New York, in Barclay street, July 21st, 1806. His 
father, Mr. Kinlock Stuart, was a manufacturer of candy in the 
city of Edinburgh, Scotland, who came to New York in 1805, and 
temporarily located in Barclay street. He removed the next year 
to the corner of Chambers and Greenwich streets, where he com- 
menced anew in his former business of candy-making. Into this 
business he introduced as a leading principle, that he would use 
nothing which was not of absolute purity; and on this the success- 
ful growth of " Stuart's candy " business was based. 

Mr. Kinlock Stuart became a rich man, according to the esti- 
mate of those days, leaving at his death in January, 1826, over 
$100,000. Of this Robert L. received $25,000; his younger 
brother the same; the residue, over $50,000, going to the widow. 
Robert L. was not yet of age; but he continued to conduct his 
father's business alone until January 7th, 1828, when he formed 
a partnership with his brother for refining sugar, as well as manu- 
facturing candy, under the firm-name of "R. L. & A. Stuart," a 
connection which endured for over half a century. Four years 
later they introduced a great novelty into the business of sugar 
refining, much against the advice, it is said, of experienced sugar 
refiners; this was nothing less than the use of steam. This proved 
a success, notwithstanding the evil prognostications of such men 
in the business as the late Mayor W. H. Havemeyer. At this 
time the office of the young firm was located in Chambers street 
(No. 169), west of Broadway; this house became remarkable, as 

the first dwelling-house in which gas was used. 

(661) 



662 ROBERT L. STUART. 

In 1835 tne fi rm built a large five-story factory at the corner of 
Greenwich and Chambers streets, which was supplemented by one 
of nine stories some years later, on the corner of Read and Green- 
wich streets. The use of steam in sugar refining was still some- 
thing to be wondered at, when, in 1834, Mr. Stuart exhibited at 
the American Institute Fair, held at Niblo's Garden, some samples 
of sugar made by the new process. The amount of sugar pro- 
duced by the Stuarts at this time was almost twelve thousand 
pounds daily, all that the trade could then take. It was in every 
respect equal to the imported, though it could be sold for nearly 
half the price of the latter. When the new nine-story building was 
occupied in 1849, tne rate °f production was increased to the 
enormous figure of 44,000,000 pounds annually. The main build- 
ing was connected by underground passages with three other build- 
ings on the opposite side of Read street; and subsequently other 
large warehouses were built adjoining the first on Chambers 
street, the latter being used mainly for the storage of refined sugars. 

It is now nearly thirty years since the Stuarts entirely discon- 
tinued the manufacture of candy; since 1855 they have confined 
their business exclusively to the refining of sugar; employing 
between three and four hundred men ; and consuming from eight 
to ten thousand tons of coal annually. 

The brothers Stuart were old-fashioned Presbyterians ; religion 
was to them something more than a name : they carried it into 
their business, which was ever conducted with the strictest regard 
to honesty and justice, and they maintained the reputation their 
father left them of never using anything but the purest materials 
in their business. One peculiar custom which we suspect has few 
imitators they always observed; as each man was taken into their 
employment he was presented with a new Bible — a gentle hint 
that it would be well for him to be guided by its principles; but 
this was not the only present which an employe received, each 
and all being remembered by some suitable gift at Christmas or 
New Year's. 



ROBERT L. STUART. 663 

There were never any strikes among the workmen employed 
by the Stuarts, and probably no firm in the city had a more de- 
voted set of men. 

During the continuance of the civil war the Stuarts gave their 
influence and their money in support of the government; and 
when the first war loan was called for, they were amongst the 
most liberal subscribers to it. 

As a proof of the large business conducted by this firm, a violent 
storm once offered curious proof by making public the fact, that 
when the Atlantic docks were unroofed by the wind, there was un- 
covered a million dollars worth of sugar belonging to the Stuarts; 
and for quality, none in the country surpassed, or perhaps equalled 
theirs; it is certain that the brand of "R. L. & A. Stuart" was ac- 
cepted throughout the civilized world as representing exactly what 
it purported to be. These refiners were the first in the United 
States to introduce the cash system into that line of business, in 
1 861, and during the course of the succeeding eleven years, in 
which their sales amounted to $36,000,000, they did not lose a 
dollar by bad debts ; no paper of theirs was ever protested, nor 
did they ever pay more than the legal rate of interest on bor- 
rowed money. After having worked together for fifty years and 
accumulated large fortunes, this gigantic business was voluntarily 
abandoned by the Messrs. Stuart, the refinery was closed, the 
machinery sold and the buildings leased for other purposes, in 
December, 1872. The younger brother Alexander had never 
married, and continued to live in his original bachelor quarters in 
Chambers streets, until the time of his death in 1879. 

Mr. Robert L. Stuart had married early in life Miss Mary, 
daughter of Mr. Robert Macrae, one of the wealthy merchants 
of old New York ; of this marriage there was no issue. At 
the time of Mr. Stuart's retirement from business he was in his 
sixty-seventh year, and thereafter the remainder of his life was 
devoted to deeds of charity and beneficence, not that the 
former part of his life had been devoid of them, for he and his 



664 ROBERT L. STUART. 

brother had jointly given away up to the period of Alexander's 
death the sum of $ 1,391,000. After this event Robert L. con- 
tinued the good work, assisted and encouraged by his wife alone. 
The Stuarts did not, during the latter years of their life, make the 
amount of their donations dependent upon the amount of their 
annual profits, but set aside regularly a specified sum to be spent 
in chanty or religious work. In 1852 $14,000 was thus set 
apart, and, later, larger sums. He was President of the Pres- 
byterian Hospital, established by Mr. Lennox, and both he and 
Alexander were very large contributors to it. In 1880 Robert 
L. gave to this institution $55,000 at one time, and within the same 
year he gave $100,000 to Princeton College and $100,000 to the 
Theological Seminary at Princeton, and $50,000 to the San Fran- 
cisco Theological Seminary. His widow subsequently gave 
$150,000 additional to Princeton College. 

Mr. Stuart was for some years President of the Museum of 
Natural History in New York, and before his last visit to Europe 
he presented to that institution the famous Dr. Morgan collection 
of prehistoric stone implements, for which he had paid in 1877 tne 
sum of $4,400. This collection was the nucleus of the valuable 
and extensive department of prehistoric archaeology now open to 
students and visitors in the museum on Eighth avenue near 
Seventy-seventh street. Mr. Stuart resigned his presidency of 
this institution in 1880. He was President of the Board of 
Trustees of the Young Men's Christian Association. He also 
belonged to several literary, social and political clubs ; was one 
of the founders of the Union League in 1861, and was also a 
member of the Century Club and others. He died on the 12th 
of December, 1882, at his old residence, after an illness of three 
weeks ; up to which time he had retained an active interest in all 
the objects which had ever given flavor to his own life or which 
tended to the benefit of his fellow-men. 



WILLIAM CRAMP & SONS. 

The immense ship-building concern in Philadelphia was founded 
by the late William Cramp in 1830, the yards lying on the shore 
of the noble Delaware river — one at the foot of Norris street, the 
other at the foot of Palmer street ; and at the Palmer street yard 
is to be found one of the largest basin docks in the country. On 
account of the large ship-building interests concentrated on the 
Delaware in the vicinity of Philadelphia, this river has been com- 
pared to the Scotch stream on which sits the manufacturing city 
of Glasgow; but the comparison is fanciful: indeed, the Delaware 
could swallow up many Clydes, without any appreciable addition 
to its volume ; and though the quantity of work performed on the 
latter tortuous little river is far greater in extent than on the banks 
of the Delaware, in regard to quality the American ship-builder 
has nothing to learn from his Scotch rival. 

William Cramp had done much good work for thirty years 
before the outbreak of the war of secession, but it was at this 
period that the Philadelphia firm came into prominence as a 
builder of iron-armored vessels for the government, the navy- 
yards being unable to meet the sudden demand ; the less so, 
because the style of ships for naval warfare now required were 
of an entirely different sort from those constructed by the em- 
ployes of the United States previous to i860. Cramp & Sons 
met the call of their country with generous promptitude, putting 
aside all other work till the government orders were filled. The 
first vessel thus built was the steam-frigate "New Ironsides;" then 
followed the monitors "Yazoo" and "Tunis," the screw-steam- 
ship " Chattanooga," of 3,500 tons, and the double-end gun-boat 
" Wyalusing." 

(665) 



666 WILLIAM CRAMP & SONS. 

In common with many American citizens, both at home and 
abroad, the Philadelphians deplored the disappearance of the 
American flag from the foreign carrying trade ; partly, no doubt, 
with a view to profit, but also with an intense desire to wipe out 
this burning disgrace, a number of merchants combined to form a 
steamship line, to ply between their city and Europe. In this 
combination the Pennsylvania Railroad Company became a large 
stockholder, undoubtedly reckoning that they would increase their 
coal-freighting business when the line was in operation. It was 
determined to build four first-class vessels fitted for freight and 
passenger traffic, and the firm they selected to build them was 
that of William Cramp & Sons. The vessels thus built were the 
"Pennsylvania," the "Ohio," the "Indiana," and the "Illinois;" 
when the contract for these was made iron was low, but before the 
ships were completed it had risen thirty per cent. ; nevertheless 
there was no attempt to draw back, or to make better terms; true 
to their old-time motto, "Time, Honor, Fidelity," the vessels were 
completed in the best possible manner, of the best materials, all 
of which was of American production, and put together by Amer- 
ican mechanics. These vessels have been a credit to their owners 
and builders ; they have made an excellent average speed, have 
done a good freighting business, and have carried nearly 100,000 
passengers, for whose safety and comfort equally good accommo- 
dations are provided as on the European lines. Their capacity is 
nearly 4,000 tons. 

Among the important vessels built by this firm were the two 
large steamers intended for the Pacific coast, named the " State 
of California " and the " Columbus," but which were bought before 
completion by the Russian Government, and rebaptized the 
" Europe " and the "Asia ; " these vessels have two peculiarities — 
one is, an immense spread of canvas, and the other, extremely 
capacious coal-bunkers; the sail area of the "Europe" is 13,390 
square feet, and that of the "Asia " 1 2,902, while the coal-carrying 
capacity of these steamers allows of twenty- four days consecutive 



WILLIAM CRAMP & SONS. 66j 

steaming, which is much above the ordinary average of European 
naval vessels — many of the English cruisers carrying no more 
than six days' coal. Other vessels, of whatever class, are con- 
structed by this firm as faithfully as are the largest. At the 
Palmer street yard the Messrs. Cramp's basin-dock for repairing 
vessels is, with one exception, the largest in the country, and will 
take in a vessel 450 feet in length with a draft of twenty feet. In 
this dock are four centrifugal pumps, which will raise 30,000 gal- 
lons a minute. 

The Cramps, beside their own great basin-dock, now control 
the immense Erie basin, at South Brooklyn harbor, of New York, 
the largest dry-dock in the world. The strength of one of the 
vessels built for Russia by Messrs. Cramp, the "Zabiaca," was 
tested in the English Channel, being run into by an English vessel, 
but she remained uninjured, and gracefully continued on her way 
to a Russian port, at the rate of fifteen and a half knots an hour. 
This firm have built 234 vessels of various classes; some of the 
old-fashioned wooden kind — sailing-vessels, clipper-ships, iron- 
ships, iron-screw steam-colliers, and pleasure steam-yachts. The 
famous "Atalanta," owned by Jay Gould, was built here, and now 
lies in her winter quarters (November, 1883) in "Cramp & Sons'" 
yard. This dainty-looking craft tested its strength shortly after it 
commenced plying between Irvington and New York, by running 
down another vessel without material injury to herself. The 
ordinary working force of this great establishment is 2,000 men, 
but in case of need 3,000 can work in these spacious yards with- 
out overcrowding. 



AUGUST BELMONT. 

The name of August Belmont naturally brings to mind the 
subject of banks and bankers, a class of men who have done far 
more to advance the interests of civilization than they have ever 
had credit for. If one could imagine the entire obliteration of the 
modern system of banking, it would make clear to the mind what 
a vast benefit to trade and commerce has been the invention of 
bills of exchange, and the general modus operandi of banking 
houses. The substitution of a piece of paper for the solid metals 
has revolutionized the commerce of the world, and strangely 
enough, this great benefit originally arose out of the needs result- 
ing from a great injustice. Looking back more than 500 years, 
we find two sovereigns of France successively driving the mem- 
bers of the Hebrew race out of that country ; many of these fled 
to Lombardy, leaving such of their property as they could not carry 
with them in the hands of traders whom they could trust; and 
when travellers or foreign merchants journeyed back from Italy to 
the home they had left, and needed to draw money there, these 
Lombardy exiles gave them private letters directed to the holders 
of their property, out of which they were directed to pay such 
sums as had been negotiated for. At first this was done solely in 
a friendly and even secret way, but the convenience was so great 
that it soon became known and popular, and from this obscure 
beginning has arisen the great and beneficent system of modern 
banking. 

Many years ago there was residing in the picturesque little 
town of Atzey, in Germany, a family of the name of Schoonberg 
(which means beautiful hill) ; for some unexplained reason this 

historical name became Gallicised by some of the modern branches 

(668; 




AUGUST BELMONT. 



AUGUST BELMONT. 669 

of the family, who preferred the smoother accents of the French 
translation, Belmont — meaning the same thing as Schoonberg; 
and to this branch of the original Schoonberg family belongs the 
famous banker of New York, August Belmont. When a young 
man, in 1837, Mr. Belmont was attached to the great financial 
house of the Rothschilds in Europe, and about that time there 
arose an occasion for some one to represent the house in America ; 
the party originally selected for this service was detained by ill- 
ness, and it was necessary to cast about for some one to supply 
his place ; August Belmont was thought of, his youth only stand- 
ing in the way ; but he had already proven himself a clear-headed, 
shrewd, reliable person ; there was no time to lose, and suitable 
agents were not to be found on every hand. The chief of the 
house sent for him. " We want some one to go to New York 
immediately ; will you go, and if so, when can you be ready ? " 

" I can be ready and will go to-morrow," promptly answered 
young Belmont. This seemed to him an opening not to be 
slighted, and an opportunity that might never Occur again. He 
lost no time in getting the few really necessary articles ready for 
the voyage, and early the next morning presented himself for 
final orders. Once located in New York Mr. Belmont soon grew 
to the place, and became identified with its material and political 
affairs, in which he still, happily, takes a deep interest. 

On achieving his citizenship Mr. Belmont promptly identified 
himself with the Democratic party, to which he has adhered 
through the long depression of its fortunes, believing in its future 
through every fluctuation of its course. As long ago as 1856 
Mr. Belmont was Chairman of the grand Democratic rally and 
barbecue held in "Jones' Woods," on which occasion the late 
Stephen A. Douglas was the oratorical attraction. In i860 he 
was Chairman of the last National Democratic Convention held 
in the South, at Charleston, South Carolina, in i860. In 1876 
Mr. Belmont was a strong supporter of Samuel J. Tilden for the 
Presidency. Since that period Mr. Belmont has not followed 



67O AUGUST BELMONT. 

politics quite so closely as formerly, for one reason perhaps that 
his son, Mr. Perry Belmont, was coming to the front as a working 
politician. This young man, who had already made his mark in 
local politics, was elected to Congress by the First Congressional 
District of the State of New York in November, 1882. In the 
next Congress he soon signalized himself in a somewhat chivalrous 
fashion in his tilt with Mr. Blaine on the matter of the Peruvian 
investigation, throwing himself into the breach against the popular 
senator. 

Bankers are of course subject to a great many applications 
for money for objects which can by no possibility render them a 
return commensurate with the risk. People with all sorts of wild 
projects have at times applied to Mr. Belmont for aid. Inven- 
tors with impractical machines, speculators with the most flimsy 
of securities, obscure little towns or villages, emulous of imitating 
richer neighbors in building some public work, come to the great 
banker fully expecting to go away with their pockets filled with 
gold and their he'ads crowned with glory at their successful nego- 
tiation. Many amusing incidents migh\ be related in this connec- 
tion did but space permit. 

Mr. Belmont married about 1843-4 tne daughter of Commander 
Perry, who was at the time Commandant of the Brooklyn Navy 
Yard, and the wedding took place on United States government 
ground, within the precincts of "the yard," — Commander Perry's 
residence being then located a short distance from where the 
Lyceum building now stands ; through this marriage Mr. Bel- 
mont's children are related to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, 
" the hero of Lake Erie " — his father-in-law, the commandant, 
having made his mark in the Eastern seas, in Japanese waters. 

Mr. Belmont's office is not on Wall street, but close to it, on 
Nassau, where that street debouches into Wall, opposite Broad, 
and almost within sound of the roar of the Stock Exchange ; his 
winter residence is on Fifth avenue, but his summer residence is 
less fixed, Saratoga and Newport, etc., making their claims upon 



AUGUST BELMONT. 67 1 

him, alternating, particularly earlier in life, with trips to Europe ; 
but he has a very famous stock-farm on Long Island, lying be- 
tween Babylon and Hempstead ; it is a lovely place, under fine 
cultivation, and is the more remarkable because the land had 
been ever since the settlement of the island classed with the bad 
lands, or " barrens," as that section of the plains was called in the 
local vernacular. These Hempstead plains, or " barrens," have 
been covered time out of mind with scrub-oak, and were looked 
upon as nearly worthless, but Mr. Belmont has shown that they 
only need ordinary care and culture to become most productive 
and profitable. This farm, with the stock, is estimated to be worth 
a quarter of a million of dollars ; near it, at Hempstead, his son, 
August, has a residence ; he keeps a stable of racing horses and 
polo ponies, and is a prominent member of the fox-hunting asso- 
ciation, known as the u Meadow Brqok Hunt." Mr. Belmont's 
wealth is estimated at $10,000,000. 



ALVIN ADAMS. 

The history of the express business in this country dates 
from 1839, in which year William F. Harnden, the "original 
expressman," transported his first packages in his pocket. He 
received his earliest inspiration and encouragement in his under- 
taking from James W. Hale, who really originated the idea, and 
was the first man who was a messenger for the public in the 
United States. He confined his attention to letters only, making 
his rates much lower than those charged by the government, and 
thereby ultimately causing a reduction in the price of postage. 

The inauguration and initial work in the express business was 
performed by these two men, and Alvin Adams, the third member 
of the triumvirate, developed its resources. 

Alvin Adams, like many another successful man, began life a 
poor boy without much education or any influential friends. All 
that he became, and he was not only a successful business man 
but a good and generous one, he owed to himself. Born in Ver- 
mont of poor parents, he early was left an orphan and compelled 
to earn his own support. He was a country boy, brought up on a 
farm and early inured to work, but he was strong and of excellent 
constitution, and labor was not a cross to him. Working with 
one's parents and for strangers are quite different things some- 
times, and young Adams decided that he would not be a farm- 
laborer but would go to Boston and seek his fortune. There was 
that in his make-up that made him friends among strangers, and 
he was not long in the great city before he had found a place. 
His first position was an humble one — that of office boy in a hotel 
— but it was a stepping-stone to him to higher things. He made 
himself useful to the proprietor, and after several years he was 
(672) 



ALVIN ADAMS. 673 

promoted to a clerkship. The Lafayette Hotel in those days was 
a centre of business in one sense, for from its doors started the 
stages which -carried the United States mail, and as this was be- 
fore the days of railroad the going and coming of the stages was 
an important event. Young Adams was temperate and indus- 
trious, and of pleasing manners, and was soon of invaluable ser- 
vice to his employer. For a few years he worked as a clerk, and 
then decided to go into some business where he would be more 
independent and have greater opportunity to make more than 
mere wages. The stables of the stage companies were near the 
hotel, and he had been thrown much with the stage-drivers, whose 
business he much liked. The stage-drivers in New England in 
that day were very important personages in the community. They 
were usually persons of character, and their calling was a most 
responsible one. To them was intrusted the transaction of all 
kinds of business, from a message to paying notes due and buying 
merchandise for households. Ladies travelling alone and children 
on their journeys to and fro to boarding-schools were placed in their 
care, and the stage-driver was consulted for the news even by the 
village domine and " squire." It is likely that Adams pined as much 
for the out-of-door life as for the emoluments " of the box ; " at any 
rate he applied for a position as driver, and w r as persuaded not to 
take it. The stage-agent, who knew him well, prevailed upon him 
not to become a stage-driver but to strive for something better, and 
after a struggle with himself Mr. Adams gave up the idea, per- 
haps to his regret afterwards, for he was clearly unfitted for the 
business he engaged in and was unsuccessful in it. 

He opened a family-grocery, and from it went into general pro- 
duce on a more extended scale, and failed for every dollar he was 
worth. He was richer only in experience, and had to begin the 
world again as poor in money as when he first started out. He had, 
however, made strong friends, and was wise in the determination 
not to give up and be submerged by misfortune. His recuperative 
power then and always throughout his long life was great ; he might 
43 



674 ALVIN ADAMS. 

fall down, but he was certain to be up again undismayed even if 
hurt, and his hope buoyed him on over difficulties that would have 
turned back less courageous workers. When fortune smiled again 
upon him he paid his creditors every cent due, and thus per- 
manently established his reputation as a true business man. In 
the meantime, however, he worked very hard without any capital, 
and supported himself only by the most rigid economy. At 
that time William Harnden had successfully established the 
first express business started in New England, and Adams 
decided to engage in the same occupation. He proposed to 
make business for himself, and supposed his intentions would be 
understood and indorsed by the public. The express business, 
unlike any other, was looked upon as the exclusive monopoly of 
the man who founded it, and Adams found himself compelled to 
contend against prejudice and abuse from all sides, in addition to 
the legitimate difficulties incident to the establishment of a new 
undertaking. 

Harnden himself felt aggrieved, and his friends argued that 
there was only employment for one man in the business, and the 
public owed it to him to sustain him against interlopers. Such a 
position was not tenable, as Adams well knew, and he persisted in 
his determination to follow the pursuit. He had no funds, and 
entered into a partnership with P. B. Burke, under the firm- 
name of Burke & Co. After a few months of up-hill work Mr. 
Burke retired from the business, and Mr. Adams continued alone, 
doing all the work of messenger, cashier, receipt-clerk, label-boy 
and porter. It was not a herculean task, though it combined so 
many occupations, for the reason that all the business he did for 
some time he could have carried in his hat. Later a valise was 
necessary, and when his business reached such dimensions as re- 
quired a trunk, he felt that fortune was indeed smiling upon his 
efforts. 

When once he had demonstrated the fact that there was room 
in the world for two expressmen his patronage rapidly increased, 



ALVIN ADAMS. 675 

and with it greater facilities. He hired first one and then two 
assistants, and finally had three persons in his employ. Meantime 
Harnden, occupied in other business enterprises, had not been 
sufficiently enterprising to keep his young and shrewd competitor 
in the background. He did not believe that the business would 
ever assume very large proportions, and he was content to keep 
on in the old way, making no additional effort, and offering no 
fresh inducements to the public to patronize him. It is doubtful 
if Adams himself had any conception of the extent to which the 
business would be extended in a few years and ultimately, but 
certainly Harnden did not, and he permitted Adams, whose 
sagacity and clear-headedness made him many business friends, to 
wrest from him much of his custom. Others, seeing that a rival 
could succeed, entered the field, and soon there were other ex- 
pressmen competing for business. 

At first Adams' business was limited to Boston, Worcester, New 
London, Norwich and New York, but in 1843 lt was extended, 
and Mr. Ephraim Farnsworth became his partner, and was at the 
head of the New York office. A wagon was purchased for use in 
Boston, and, most fortunately for Mr. Adams, he had for a driver 
a man who had made himself a popular reputation as a stage- 
driver. This man, Samuel L. Woodard, was invaluable to him, 
and for many years served the young expressman with indefatiga- 
ble zeal. He was richer than Mr. Adams, owning several farms, 
and might have rested from active labor had his wish been to do 
so. He loved to work, and was an ally needful to the success of 
Mr. Adams, whose enterprising and pushing characteristics made 
it essential for him to have others who could be relied upon to do 
routine work. Through all these years Mr. Adams resided in 
Boston, happily surrounded by his young family, and having 
charge of the office there. His partner in New York withdrew 
from the business, and Mr. Adams remained alone. He was not 
a man to have partners unless he had the place of authority, for 
he was too strongly individualized to be controlled or hampered 



676 ALVIN ADAMS. 

by more conservative men. When a company was formed he 
took in the young men who had served him well, and nearly all of 
whom are still associated with it. His two sons grew up in the 
business and are still at the head of the company. 

When the war broke out the Adams Express Company was at 
the head of the express business in this country, and it had branch 
offices throughout the North and South. Three large companies 
were in existence, but none were so prosperous as the Adams, 
and hence the government, in its preparations for war, utilized this 
organized power, and the company became identified with it. For 
five years, succeeding the firing upon Fort Sumter, the Adams 
Express Company was a national blessing, carrying comfort to 
the sick and the wounded, returning to homes the bodies of those 
whose battles were over, and delivering to absent ones in the field 
remembrances from the loved ones at home. On every battle- 
field were express messengers, and in the front, with the foremost, 
were the agents of the company, hastening forward to make ar- 
rangements for the despatch of business. 

Mr. Adams lived until 1877, when he died on the 2d of Septem- 
ber, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He was a man of great 
urbanity and genial benevolence. He lived in his beautiful home 
at Watertown, near Boston, surrounded by his family circle, which 
had much diminished in numbers in the later years of his life. In 
the enjoyment of the respect of his fellow-men, abundantly supplied 
with riches honestly won, and at the head of a business which gives 
employment to thousands of working-people, and is respected 
throughout the length and breadth of the land, his life was a for- 
tunate and happy one, and blessed in many respects, through his 
own efforts mainly, beyond the average lives of men. 



HON, WILLIAM G. FARGO. 

In the year 1831, if a traveller had happened to be riding over 
the country roads between the town of Pompey, New York, and 
Apulia, passing through Waterville, Maulins, Oran, Delphi, and 
Fabius, he would have been pretty sure to meet on the way a 
small lad on horseback, hardly more than a dozen years of age, 
guarding with care a large leathern bag, riding as quickly as the 
quality of his horse would permit, and as intent upon his business 
as any " grave and reverend Seignior " could have been. This boy 
was William G. Fargo, and the contents of the leathern bag was 
that part of the United States mail destined fo.r the section of the 
country through which he rode. Evidently highwaymen were not 
habitues of that section of the country or the mail contractor, Mr. 
Daniel Butts, of Pompey, would not have intrusted the mail 
matter of a forty-mile circuit to this mere child ; neither could 
William Fargo have been an ordinary boy ; he must have been 
prompt, reliable, trustworthy. 

William Fargo's most remote ancestor in this country was 
Moses Fargo (sometimes written Firgo), who came from England 
to Connecticut about 1670, settling in New London. His great- 
grandson, William C, fought with the patriots in the war of the 
Revolution, and obtained at least a local distinction by his devotion 
and bravery ; after the peace settling down as a farmer, to which 
he afterwards added the business of distilling. His son, the young 
mail-carrier, was born on May 20, 18 18, after the family had 
located in Pompey, Onondaga county, New York. A great deal 
of work and very little schooling filled up the measure of his days 
until his thirteenth year, from which time forward business of some 
kind occupied nearly all of his waking hours ; and perhaps no 

(.677) 



678 HON. WILLIAM G. FARGO. 

form of work which a boy could do was so well calculated to im- 
press upon a youthful mind the prime conditions of all successful 
business, the necessity of certainty and despatch. The mail he 
was intrusted with must be delivered every day precisely to time ; 
no storm, or heat and cold, could be considered, no holiday regard, 
no circus must detain the mail-boy from his route ; in this engage- 
ment he learned once for all that when a contract is made it must 
be fulfilled. Seeking a more remunerative employment we next 
find him assisting in the country store and tavern of Ira Curtiss at 
Waterville, where he attended a term or two of evening school 
and learned to keep accounts. From thence, in 1835, he went to 
the larger city of Syracuse with Messrs. Hough & Gilbert, 
grocers, with whom he remained a year ; when, receiving the offer 
of a better salary, he entered the service of another firm in the 
same trade, Messrs. R. & W. Heninan ; here he remained three 
years, afterwards engaging in the forwarding house of Dumford 
& Co. 

In January, 1840, Mr. Fargo married Miss Anna H., daughter 
of Nathan Williams, one of the earliest settlers of Pompey. He 
now decided to cease clerking and to commence business for him- 
self, and inviting his brother Jerome to join him, together they 
opened a grocery and provision store in Weedsport : they after- 
wards added a bakery, but the firm did not make a success of it, 
and William removed to Auburn, where he shortly after accepted 
the freight agency of the newly-completed Auburn & Syracuse 
Railroad. Two years later saw his entrance into the express 
business, with which he was ever after identified. In 1842 he was 
engaged as messenger for Pomeroy & Co., who had recently es- 
tablished an express line between Auburn and Buffalo. At this 
period the railroad was only completed to Batavia, and from that 
point westward packages " per Express " were forwarded by stages. 
The next year Mr. Fargo removed to Buffalo, having accepted the 
agency of the express company at that city. 

Mr. Fargo appears to have had a mind admirably adapted for 



HON. WILLIAM G. FARGO. 679 

the large business he finally undertook, and most of his occupation 
through life had been directly or indirectly a preparation for it, 
and though hitherto it had been conducted principally by local 
companies, Mr. Fargo saw, even in this, its incipient state, the 
great expansion of which it was capable, and he felt an internal 
conviction that in his own hands he could organize a service co- 
extensive with the nation. The principal drawback to the realiza- 
tion of these thoughts was lack of capital; however, in 1844, he 
formed a partnership with Mr. Henry Wells and Mr. Daniel 
Dunning, and organized an express line from Buffalo to Detroit, 
via Cleveland, thus introducing the express system into what was 
then the " Far West." The firm-name of this trio was " Wells & 
Co.," hence it may be inferred that what little capital there was 
Mr. Wells furnished the greater part; but neither of them had 
much — a few hundred dollars apiece was the utmost of their re- 
sources. The enormous railroad system of the West, as we see 
it to-day, had yet to be born. In 1844 there was only one railroad 
in Ohio — that from Sandusky City to Monroeville, and one in Mich- 
igan, between Detroit and Ypsilanti, consequently nearly all the 
expressing business was done either by steamers or stages : the 
former in summer, the latter in winter. 

The company attracted business by the certainty and safety 
which they guaranteed : promptness was their motto, and in less 
than two years their line was extended northwest to Chicago, 
Milwaukee, and Galena, and south to St. Louis. Mr. Dunning 
withdrew from the firm at the end of the first year, and at the end 
of the second Mr. Wells sold out his interest to Mr. William A. 
Livingston — the firm becoming "Livingston & Fargo." In the 
meantime other express companies had sprung up ; among the 
new firms were those of "Johnson Livingston" and "Henry 
Wells ; " that of " Butterfield, Wasson & Co.," and that of " Liv- 
ingston, Wells & Co. " — these were all running more or less to 
the injury of each other and of "Livingston & Fargo." A con- 
sultation was held in 1850 by representatives of these different 



680 HON. WILLIAM G. FARGO. 

companies, and in March of that year the "American Express 
Company" was formed, consolidating the interests of all these 
parties : Henry Wells became the first President and William G. 
Fargo the first Secretary, which offices they respectively held until 
December, 1868, when the American Express Company was con- 
solidated with the Merchants' Union Express Company, of which 
Mr. Fargo was elected President, which position he held during 
the remainder of his life. 

The company organized in 1851, under the name of "Wells, 
Fargo & Co.," commenced the express business between New 
York and San Francisco via the Isthmus of Panama, with branch 
lines on the Pacific coast, continuing until the opening of the 
Union and Central Pacific Railroads, when the ocean service 
was abandoned for the more direct and speedy route. Of this 
company Mr. Fargo was a vice-president and director. In 1857 
the United States Government solicited proposals from the express 
companies for conveying the mails from St. Louis to San Fran- 
cisco via El Paso, Texas, Fort Yuma, and San Diego, known as 
the Southern route ; for this purpose the several existing com- 
panies organized as one, under the title of the " Overland Mail 
Company," and this arrangement for conveying the mails over the 
route designated was maintained until 1861, when it was inter- 
rupted by the war, and the company was dissolved. This same 
year Mr. Fargo was elected Mayor of Buffalo, and was re-elected 
in 1863. Personally he was a Democrat, but in the administration 
of his office there was visible no undue partisanship, his superior 
business qualities and broad generous spirit of his civic adminis- 
tration winning for him the approval of all parties. 

"Fargo, Wells & Co." had a capital of $18,000,000. They 
maintained 2,700 offices in all parts of the Union, their army of 
employes numbering 5,000 men, including 600 messengers. Be- 
sides his forty years at the head of the express business of the 
country, Mr. Fargo was for some time a Director and Vice-Presi- 
dent of the New York Central Railroad, and was a Director and 



HON. WILLIAM G. FARGO. 68 1 

large stockholder of the Northern Pacific Railroad ; also of the 
Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad Company, and was 
financially interested in the Buffalo Company, and the McKean 
and Buffalo Narrow Gauge Railroad. Besides these large railroad 
interests he was a stockholder in many manufacturing concerns 
in different parts of the State. When Mr. Henry Keep resigned 
the Presidency of the New York Central Railroad, the office was 
tendered to Mr. Fargo, but he declined it on account of his nu- 
merous other engagements. It was his brother, Jerome F. Fargo, 
that was for so long a time Superintendent of the American 
Express Company, and who died in January of the present year 

(1883). 

Mr. William G. Fargo was a man of fine presence, nearly six 
feet in height ; he had regular features and a pleasing expression 
of countenance, although he looked older than he was ; the traces 
of incessant care had left their marks upon his brow in middle life, 
and also tinged his hair with gray prematurely. Previous to his last 
acute illness, Mr. Fargo had been out of health for some months, 
and in February, 1881, he took a trip South, hoping to benefit by 
the change. He had a farm at Aiken, South Carolina, where he 
spent some time, and also visited Fortress Monroe, not returning 
North until May. Reaching his home at Buffalo in July, he died 
on the 3d of August. He left a widow and two daughters. 



H. B. CLAFLIN. 

Probably no merchant in the line of dry-goods is more widely- 
known by name in the United States than that of Claflin. For 
many years there was a rivalry existing between him and the late 
A. T. Stewart; but they finally diverged somewhat in the prom- 
inence of certain lines of goods, Stewart tending to the finer pro- 
ductions of laces and silks, while Mr. Claflin made more prominent 
the heavier staple articles ; then, too, Mr. Stewart never aban- 
doned the retail trade, which Claflin gave up many years ago. 

Horace B. Claflin was born in Worcester county, Massachusetts, 
about 1810, and was educated in the public schools of that com- 
monwealth, which has at all times, and in every portion within its 
borders, provided a good elementary training for its youth. When 
quite a young man, Horace Claflin was in the dry-goods business 
in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, the firm being known as 
Claflin & Daniels ; but Worcester was at that time too much of a 
" pent-up Utica" to satisfy the expanding visions of the young 
merchant ; a few years later we find him in Cedar street, New 
York, in partnership with a Mr. Buckley, occupying as a store the 
lower part of a four-story dwelling-house. It was very common 
then for even well-to-do merchants to live over their stores ; and 
it was not unusual for them to receive the younger clerks into 
their family, where they could look after their morals, and see that 
they kept good hours. Mr. Claflin belonged to this steady, sub- 
stantial class, who was in no haste to rush into display, or to let 
the world too early into the knowledge of his growing bank 
account. 

Enterprising, energetic, and quick to perceive the changes 
affecting business, he was not long in discovering that Cedar 
(682) 




H. B. CLAFLIN. 



H. B. CLAFLIN. 68$ 

street, opposite the old post-office, was not exactly a prime loca- 
tion for dry-goods. After the " great fire," a great many mer- 
chants in that line who had located in Pearl street and the vicinity 
of Hanover Square, began to push over to the western side of the 
city, many like Mr. Claflin making a settlement on Broadway. It 
was here that " Claflin. & Mellen " first halted on their progressive 
movement up-town ; for many years their store was located in the 
Trinity building, then recently erected, and this was considered an 
excellent site ; but the dry-goods business had no abiding-place 
there ; all that part of the city was soon needed for offices ; and 
Mr. Claflin having greatly prospered concluded to build for him- 
self, and the elegant and commodious store on West Broadway, 
corner of Worth street, was erected. The retail business was 
abandoned with other great changes, and additional lines of goods 
introduced ; instead of dealing exclusively in dry-goods, boots and 
shoes, Yankee notions, and other novelties were introduced, so 
that it has been said one may go in at one side of Claflin's empty- 
handed and come out on the other fitted up with everything one 
needs to wear, and almost everything one needs to use. It is one 
of the largest concerns in the world. 

About 1848 Mr. Claflin took up his residence in Brooklyn, of 
which city he has been a resident ever since, except during the 
summer months, when he resides either in Massachusetts or in a 
suburban villa north of New York city. His "legal residence, ,, so 
far as the assessors books are concerned, is not, however, in New 
York or Brooklyn. For some years he occupied a comfortable 
modest dwelling in the latter city, but a few years ago he built on 
Pierrepont street one of the most costly and substantial residences 
in the city. It is of brown-stone, forty feet front and four stories 
in height ; the entrance is in the centre, being flanked by a swell 
front on each side. It is a very massive building, and the lots 
upon which it is built cost an old-fashioned fortune. One of the 
lots was owned by Mr. Claflin's neighbor, Mr. Samuel McLean, 
who was very unwilling to sell, and refused to negotiate for a long 



684 H. B. CLAFLIN. 

time ; the lot in its maximum price was valued at $15,000, but Mr. 
Claflin could not build his house on the magnificent scale intended 
without this additional lot. At last he said : " Will you take 
$40,000 for it? " The offer was too good to be refused, and the 
result of the concession is a stately dwelling of which any city 
might be proud. 

A great part of Mr. Claflin's business has been selling to jobbers 
and tradesmen scattered all over the United States, and notes on 
time have been constantly taken in whole or part payment for 
goods, but with these notes have been taken many mortgages on 
real estate as security. Of course in many instances the pur- 
chasers have failed to pay on time ; and this explains the remark 
often heard that " H. B. Claflin owns land in every State in the 
Union," for, in the course of years, a large number of these mort- 
gages have had to be foreclosed. Mr. Claflin has few, if any, eccen- 
tricities ; neither is he given to cultivating hobbies of any kind ; if 
he has a pet indulgence it is in his supreme friendship and devotion 
to Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, one of whose parishioners he has 
long been. Plymouth Church would indeed be shorn of one of its 
prominent ornaments should the venerable head of H. B. Claflin 
be missed from that prominent pew in the middle aisle. Mr. 
Claflin is a steady financial supporter of the church, and also does 
his share towards aiding literary and art institutions in Brooklyn ; 
and charitable institutions rarely fail when they call upon him for 
help. Lately he has been interesting himself in trying to secure a 
system of cable-traction railways, both for the city and counties 
of the State of New York, and upon the presentation of a petition 
headed by him, Mayor Edson has recently appointed five commis- 
sioners to consider the feasibility of the proposition. His busi- 
ness transactions several years ago reached $33,000,000 per 
annum, and has been increasing ever since. 



JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER. 

John D. Rockefeller is the Aladdin of to-day — the organizer 
of that mysterious and mighty syndicate, the Standard Oil Com- 
pany, which yearly brings $66,000,000 to this country in exchange 
for oil that it exports, that lights the sacred shrines of Hindustan 
with the brilliant product of the wells of Pennsylvania, to the exclu- 
sion, titter and absolute, of the indigenous vegetable oils ; that has 
seized the gas monopolies by the throat and forced cheaper light 
for the people ; that has brought the gnomes of mines and million- 
aire masters of railroads to their knees ; that has combined the 
efforts of men who once were in bitter rivalry, and paradoxically, 
while filling their pockets, lightens the taxes for the people who 
fill them. John D. Rockefeller is a Scot, and any sketch of him 
is necessarily also — indeed, almost wholly — a sketch of his creation, 
the Standard Oil Company. With vast power of generalizing and 
insight into detail, combined with impenetrable secresy, he has 
made the oil pool a power that is hated and dreaded for its mys- 
tery ; and yet, on the Jeremy Bentham formula, of doing the 
greatest good to the greatest number, cannot be said to have done 
harm to any one. True, in its inexorable course of conquest, it 
has thrown aside obstacles, but this has been because they were 
obstacles. Like the wild buffalo butting the locomotive, if they 
became beef it was their own fault, and their hides, horns, hoofs, 
and edible portions have been made available for consumption by 
more far-seeing persons. 

The fact that Mr. Rockefeller can, and does, keep his secrets, is 
one source of his power. Like Mr. Jay Gould, who in many re- 
spects is a kindred spirit, Mr. Rockefeller owes nothing to the 
hereditary silver spoons, which have started the modern Astors, 

(685) 



686 JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER. 

Vanderbilts, Rothschilds, etc., far up the ladder at the very outset 
of their careers. He is the founder of his own fortune, with 
grander scope than the most energetic of the progenitors of these 
families of millionaires. Both Mr. Gould and Mr. Rockefeller 
have utilized the maxim, that " Publicity is the greatest foe to suc- 
cess." With themselves alone do they take counsel, and when a 
decision has been reached, action follows promptly. If it were not 
for this secresy as to a proposed plan, Mr. Rockefeller would not 
to-day be as rich and powerful as he is. Like all money-getters, 
except those who fall, so to say, into fortune's lap, he always has 
had the instinctive faculties needed in the great race for wealth. 

In 1864-5, m tne beginning of the Pennsylvania oil excitement, 
the firm of Clark & Rockefeller was doing a commission business 
in the river section of Cleveland, Ohio. They became interested 
in oil, and bought some Pennsylvania land. None at that time 
could have predicted the subsequent success of Rockefeller, and 
his blossoming into the mighty Standard Company. The firm, 
through Mr. Samuel Andrews, tried the experiment of refining 
crude petroleum : Andrews did the work, while the other two fur- 
nished the capital and did the managing. Here is the point where 
Rockefeller's success began. Around this small nucleus soon 
collected much material. The experiment was successful, and a 
larger firm was organized. The system which has culminated in 
Rockefeller's last great work was used then. It was the system 
of absorption ; carried on always in secrecy, because he knew that 
if his objects were known and his actions seen, opposition too 
strong to counteract would be aroused. 

The accumulating and absorbing continued, until he with his 
partners had secured a very comfortable fortune, which he never 
endangered by fatuous speculation in either oil, stocks or mines. 
In a very natural way he came to New York, after he had obtained 
control of all the refineries, great or small, around Cleveland. 
Every one was offered a chance to come in and join the combina- 
tion or do its bidding, and if they refused were sure to be extin- 



JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER. 68 J 

guished by being drawn into the great whirling vortex which was 
moved and directed by Rockefeller. 

Legislative committees from the most august bodies in various 
States, and of the Federal government itself, have tried again and 
again to find out the particulars of the agreements of the various 
combinations and subcombinations which go together to make up 
the syndicate known as the Standard Oil Company. Their efforts 
have been vain. Like the imponderable vapors of naphtha, learned 
counsel and legislators found they were combating with shadows, 
and yet these elusive shadows had a potency which returned blows 
of anything but ghostly force. 

Pipe Line Companies, Trust Companies, and Companies for all 
sorts of ostensible purposes are surmised and have been partially 
proved to be but the tentacles of this monstrous all-absorbing 
cuttlefish, which covers its tracks with oil and harvests the gold of 
the world. 

•The New York Times, in its issue of November 18th, 1882, says: 
" While the Standard is, in the real meaning of the word, the 
greatest monopoly in America, as powerful in its own field as the 
-government itself, and holding the entire refined and crude oil 
market of the world in the hollow of its president's hand, its 
methods and dealings are the most securely covered up and 
hidden from the public eye of any corporation that anywhere ap- 
proaches it in size or ramifications." 

This is true enough, so far as it goes, but far understates the case. 

Lightning has struck the tanks of the Standard Oil Company 
repeatedly. More tanks are built from its inexhaustible resources, 
and the preat work of illumination croes on. It has set — not the 
Thames — but the East river on fire several times, and blown up 
the streets of Hunter's Point frequently by the mixture of petro- 
leum gases and sewer gases and atmospheric air in the sewers. 
Hunter's Point, Long Island, is thus not an agreeable place for 
suburban residences, but the gold-coining industry there establishes 
a fulcrum by which the Archimedian lever of light moves the 



6SS JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER. 

world. The company pays for all damages done, and, unmoved, 
moves relentlessly on. What a wonderful conception is that em- 
bodied in these Pipe lines, where for hundreds of miles oil is con- 
veyed direct from the sources of production to the ships which take 
it all over the globe. It is a more marvellous adaptation of Amer- 
ican engineering ingenuity and practical skill than the great grain 
elevators, pork-packing establishments or systems of hydraulic 
mining which we so justly boast of. The science of law is en- 
riched by the new questions involved in the settlement of rights as 
between riparian owners and the conductors of such vast and 
novel enterprises. 

Driven by immense engines, the oil is forced by millions of 
gallons daily over hill and dale, from the oil regions to the sea- 
board, traversing wilds untracked, save by the deer, bears, and 
wild birds of the wilderness, through teeming cities, under rivers, 
over oil ducts. 

The ebbs of profit incident to all human enterprises are taken 
philosophically, and the good name gained and retained by this 
undeviating integrity, this corporate stiff upper lip, is a capital in 
itself. Its credit is simply unlimited. 

It has taken less than twenty years for Mr. Rockefeller to rise 
from the comparative obscurity as a commission merchant in a 
country town to power exceeding that of any monarch. If the 
Rothschilds cai make war, Rockefeller can command peace. A 
collision of interests between the historic bankers and the Chief 
of Oil would be disastrous, but not to Rockefeller. 

People wonder what Mr. Rockefeller's weakness is, what are 
his peculiar pursuits. It may briefly be said, the pursuit of power 
is all-absorbing. Money is an incident, a means to an end. He 
makes money, therefore, diligently. In silence and secrecy to 
hold the electric button which can make or mar monarchs and 
warriors and make them dance to his bidding, is the charm of his 
existence. 

His company and he himself occupy a very fine building at 45 



JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER. 689 

Broadway, New York city, and characteristically no hint of the 
Standard Company's existence is seen outside. A sign that tells 
of Charles Pratt & Co. is all one sees. But the entire five stories 
are devoted to the Standard Oil Company, and no other interests 
enter there. 

His residence in Cleveland was modest and comfortable, but 
without display or reaching after notoriety as a patron of archi- 
tective " culchaw " or isms, least of all, egoism. 

His country house at Greenwich is distinctively in contrast with 
the vulgar splendor of Tweed and his men, the " Tigers " of the 
Americus Club, and his chief residence at the corner of Fifth 
avenue and Fifty-fourth street, New York, is not splendid. It is 
handsome, well appointed, evidently the home of a rich man ; but 
as evidently not the apple of his eye, but merely the tent of a 
prophet of modern progress, the Mohammed of Illumination. 
44 



DANIEL J. MURPHY. 

Daniel J. Murphy is distinguished at least in two ways — one 
as the bearer of an hereditary title, granted by the pope, and in 
another respect he stands unique even in the history of California 
millionaires — he is the largest individual land-owner in the world. 
He owns in one mass 4,000,000 acres in Mexico, 60,000 in Nevada, 
and 23,000 in California ; that in Mexico is located within twelve 
miles of the city of Durango, which is to be a station on the 
Mexican Central Railroad. It is sixty miles in length and includes 
a beautiful country, varied with hill and valley, forest and meadow, 
including some heavy growths of pine timber ; and for all this 
splendid land he paid only $200,000 — five cents an acre ! but that 
was before the railroad route was determined on. In California 
he devotes his land to wheat, and last year (1882) harvested fifty- 
five thousand sacks. In Nevada the land is reserved for stock, 
and Mr. Murphy ships six thousand cattle eastward every year. 
Mr. Murphy has not always been wealthy, and there were times 
in his youth when he had great difficulty to make his modest 
salary equal to his very moderate wants. Raised in the city of 
New York he first meets our view as a young clerk in the employ- 
ment of Eugene Kelly, the well-known banker of Exchange Place. 
At the time referred to, some thirty years ago, Mr. Kelly was in 
the dry-goods business, principally engaged in sending goods to 
California. After some time Mr. Kelly took young Murphy into 
partnership, and eventually left him his whole business which he 
had organized in San Francisco, the firm in later years bearing 
the title of Murphy, Grant & Co. 

Mr. Murphy accumulated wealth rapidly and began investing 
in lands ; for many years he has spent a large portion of his sur- 
(690) 



DANIEL J. MURPHY. 691 

plus wealth in chanty. He is a devoted Catholic, and his largesse 
was naturally turned in the direction of Roman Catholic institu- 
tions. His first large donations were bestowed upon the Roman 
Catholic Orphan Asylums in San Francisco and Sacramento ; next 
the Sisters of St. Dominic and the Nuns of the Presentation, who 
have charge of the large free school of San Francisco; the Brothers 
of the Christian Schools also came in for a share of Mr. Murphy's 
generous gifts. 

Mr. Murphy has a taste for foreign travel, usually making Rome 
one of his objective points when in Europe. On his first journey 
thither he was armed with a written introduction to the holy father 
presented to him by the Right Reverend Archbishop Alemany of 
San Francisco. Upon the occasion of his second visit to Rome, 
several years ago, he was decorated by Pope Pius IX. with the 
order of St. Gregory. The next year he was made a count by 
the same authority. Since the accession of His Holiness Leo 
XIII. Mr. Murphy has received the extraordinary favor of being 
created a marquis ; this title is hereditary, and has been bestowed 
by the pope upon one other American, Mr. Oliver, who is also a 
resident of San Francisco. By the seventh clause of section 9 of 
the Constitution of the United States we find how the reception 
of foreign titles is regarded in that instrument; the clause reads: 
" No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States ; and 
no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, 
without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolu- 
ment, office or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince or 
foreign state." By the letter of the Constitution a private citizen 
is evidently not forbidden to accept such compliments ; but the 
spirit of the instrument rightly interpreted would lead every Ameri- 
can citizen to decline at least an hereditary title, which is entirely 
foreign to the genius of the government under which we live. 
However, papal marquisates are not likely to multiply to any 
dangerous extent, since the only examples we have before us 
have been granted as a reward for extraordinary money gifts to 



692 DANIEL J. MURPHY. 

the church. This title is the highest to which the Catholic laity 
can attain. Its only practical value consists in the precedence 
which it gives the bearers over the lesser clerical dignitaries at 
the religious ceremonies in Rome during Holy Week, and the 
right to be represented at the papal court. No religious or other 
ceremonies are deemed essential in the bestowal of this dignity, 
and this patent of nobility was in fact received by Mr. Murphy 
when he was in San Francisco. Formerly, when the pope's 
temporal power Was recognized, this title of marquis was much 
sought after by Europeans. 

It is somewhat singular that such a naturally modest gentle- 
man as Mr. Murphy should develop such a craving for titles, not 
only for himself, but for his family. On the 19th of July, 1883, his 
daughter, Miss Anita Theresa, was married in London to Sir 
Charles Michael Wolseley, Baronet. He is the representative of 
one of the oldest Roman Catholic families in England, claiming 
Henry VIII's great cardinal as their ancestor. The family seat is 
in Staffordshire; the property attached to it is neither large nor 
valuable, and a baronet is the lowest hereditary title in England — 
yet to one fond of titles it is better than nothing! The bride- 
groom's aunt, a daughter of the seventh baronet, was wife of the 
Marquis Lousada, who was many years British consul in Boston 
and who died there in 1870. It was gravely added in the English 
papers which described the wedding that " the pope sent his bless- 
ing to the newly wedded pair " — Sir Charles and Miss Murphy. 
Mrs. Murphy is said to be a very influential person in the devoted 
Catholic circles of Paris and London. During the year 1883 Mr. 
Murphy had a large picture painted, representing the presenta- 
tion of himself and family to the Pope. 




SAMUEL S. WHITE. 



SAMUEL STOCKTON WHITE, D. D. S. 

Samuel S. White was a native of Pennsylvania, being born in 
Hulmeville, Bucks county, June 19, 1822 ; but on the death of his 
father, which occurred when the boy was only eight years old, his 
mother removed to Burlington, New Jersey. At this time his 
uncle, S. W. Stockton, of Philadelphia, was manufacturing mineral 
teeth, then a great novelty in the profession, and to this relative 
Samuel was indentured when about fourteen to learn " the art and 
mystery of dentistry." Here he worked faithfully for seven years, 
and on attaining his majority he was given the oversight of the 
manufacturing department, and also practised to some extent in 
the office. 

In 1844 Mr. White began in a small way to manufacture teeth 
on his own account. He opened an office for general practice on 
the corner of Seventh and Race streets : while in the attic he ex- 
perimented on teeth-making, and succeeded in producing a finer 
and more artistic article than his uncle had yet succeeded in doing. 
He soon after removed to more commodious apartments on Race 
street. The next year the well-known firm of "Jones, White & 
McCurdy " was formed, and subsequently branch houses were 
established in New York, Boston, and Chicago. Mr. Ashael Jones 
took charge of the New York house, but withdrew from the firm 
in 1 861 ; Mr. White having already purchased McCurdy's interest 
in 1859. In 1868 Dr. White erected the fine large building on 
the southeast corner of Chestnut and Twelfth streets, Philadel- 
phia, for the purposes of a factory and depot, not only for teeth 
but for all kinds of dental supplies. 

With the passing years many improvements were made both in 
the manufacture of single and block teeth, as also in dental instru- 

(693) 



694 SAMUEL STOCKTON WHITE, D. D. S. 

ments, and every improvement, from whatever source it came, was 
promptly adopted by Dr. White, so that the best results of the 
inventive faculty of the whole profession were always to be found 
at his depots. In recognition of this readiness on his part to raise 
the profession to the dignity of a science he was presented with a 
testimonial (in February, 1847), signed by a large number of den- 
tists from different sections of the country. 

In 1848 he was awarded a gold medal for the best specimens of 
porcelain teeth by the American Institute of New York, and the 
first premium by the Maryland Institute of Baltimore ; and the 
next year he received a premium, in the shape of a gold medal, 
for "the greatest improvement " in the manufacture of teeth, 
which was offered by the Society of Dental Surgeons of Pennsyl- 
vania. Dr. White was an indefatigable exhibitor : what there 
was of improvement in teeth or dental instruments and appli- 
ances, he wanted all the world to know and profit by, and he 
nearly always took the leading prizes or premiums ; nearly eighty 
of these witnessed to his skill and enterprise ; and that they were 
really valuable and worthy of the commendation received, is 
proven by the fact that many of the inventions were adopted by 
European practitioners, who could not be presumed to be pre- 
judiced in favor of American novelties in surgical instruments. 

When the profession began to use vulcanized rubber as a base 
for artificial teeth, in place of gold or other metallic bases, Dr. 
White, at the sacrifice of time, money, and personal convenience, 
made a brave fight against the Goodyear Dental Vulcanite Com- 
pany, which he believed was operating under an indefensible pa- 
tent. This he did more in the interest of the profession generally 
than his own, and in the consequent litigation he at one time found 
himself defendant in several personal suits with damages claimed 
amounting to $175,000. Dr. White's interest was not limited to 
inventions and improvements in the dental profession ; whatever 
was likely to benefit the community he made his own, so far as 
sympathy and financial aid could do so. When Elisha Grey, the 



SAMUEL STOCKTON WHITE, D. D. /%! 695 

inventor of the Harmonic Telegraph, was pressed for means to 
make his experiments and procure his patents, Dr. White came 
generously to his aid, and enabled him to complete his invention. 
The American Speaking Telephone Company — a sort of after- 
thought to the Harmonic Telegraph — found him one of its earliest 
and stoutest supporters, as he was also one of the largest stock- 
holders. This business was very remunerative, but he was not a 
man to hoard money, and his investments were mainly in such 
companies as were the outgrowth of the spirit of progress and 
beneficial to humanity, and not mere money-making machines. 

When the government put out its first loan, he was among the 
earliest purchasers of the bonds ; was a member of the Union 
League Club, and in every way that a civilian could, assisted the 
cause of the Union ; particularly did he help forward the work of 
the Sanitary Commission, and aid in the reception and entertain- 
ment of regiments passing through Philadelphia. His patriotism 
took a similar form when the great Centennial Exposition was 
planned to be held in the city of his residence. As he had for- 
merly subscribed $5,000 to the Sanitary Fair, so he subscribed the 
same sum to the International Fair of 1876. Dr. White's life was 
not like some of the characters we have sketched in this work — 
full of adventures and marvellous changes of condition ; it was a 
steady, uniform progress in prosperity, which he met in a liberal 
spirit, sharing his good fortune most generously where it was 
needed ; he was a man to be imitated, both in his private virtues 
and in the conscientious fulfilment of his duties as a citizen. Dr. 
White died in Paris, of congestion of the brain, on the 30th of 
December, 1879. He was in the fifty-eighth year of his age. 



JOHN STEVENS. 

On the 30th ot September, 1880, there was a remarkable scene 
in progress near the river front at Hoboken, on the Hudson ; a 
huge iron monster, once destined for the defence of New York 
harbor, was being sold at auction for old iron ; although the hull 
might easily have been transformed into a modern naval vessel. 
The history of this unique object is part of the history of the 
Stevens family, and will be more particularly described, but the 
better to appreciate the work and its owner, we must go back to 
Revolutionary times to find the source of the wealth which was 
invested in the " Stevens Battery." During the war of independ- 
ence, there was in the State of New Jersey a large landed pro- 
prietor named William Bayard ; he was a royalist, and when the 
Continental Congress passed the resolution that the estates of 
those who gave aid and comfort to the enemies of the country 
should be confiscated, the lands of William Bayard were included 
in the official condemnation. For some time these lands lay un- 
cultivated. Mr. Bayard's property had extended for a consider- 
able distance on the west bank of the Hudson river, now mainly 
covered by the city of Hoboken, and extending back to the 
meadows below the heights. Soon after peace was declared, 
Colonel John Stevens bought some 600 acres of this land ; about 
half on the river front and half on the meadows or low ground. 
This large property descended to Mr. Robert Stevens. Several 
years before Fulton ran the " Clairmont " on the Hudson, Mr. R. 
Stevens built a small steamboat, and made several successful trips 
with it ; it had defects, but was really practicable, and only needed a 
few improvements to have forestalled the fame of Fulton. This 
boat was named the " John Stevens ; " and anybody credulous of this 
(696) 



JOHN STEVENS. 697 

priority of claim can see the veritable, original engine of this 
boat in the " Stevens' Institute of Technology," Hoboken, where it 
is religiously preserved, enclosed in a glass case, in the mechanical 
department. 

Several of the elder members of this family appear to have had 
not only a taste for mechanics, but really great mechanical skill. It 
is to Mr. Robert Stevens that the conception of the great battery 
was due, but his brothers, J. C. and Edwin A., participated in his 
enthusiasm in regard to it, and it was brought nearly to completion 
by the latter gentleman. The keel of this battery was laid in 1843, 
and was in its essential principle a forerunner of our armored 
monitors, having also turrets like them ; but during the progress 
of its construction the science of projectiles had advanced so 
rapidly, that in 1854 the old designs were abandoned and the 
whole work was begun anew. The length of the vessel was 410 
feet over all, and forty-five feet beam, with, a draught of twenty- 
two feet, and 6,000 tons displacement. Very powerful engines 
were designed, so as to give this battery a speed of nearly six- 
teen knots an hour. It was supposed that the United States gov- 
ernment would have bought this valuable structure for the defence 
of the mercantile metropolis of the country; the late General 
Gaines, of the United States army, was an ardent advocate of 
the uses to which this battery might be put in connection with a 
land force, but official naval prejudice was too much for anything, 
however good, that was not first floated in a government navy 
yard. The construction of this huge battery cost a fortune before 
it was completed, and its owner left at his decease $1,000,000 with 
which to finish it ; but though a very expensive hobby, Mr. E. A. 
Stevens' wealth increased so fast by the rise in value of his real 
estate, that the expense it entailed was not felt by him, or missed 
by his heirs. 

Mr. Robert Stevens was one of the projectors of the Camden 
and Amboy, and the New Jersey railroads, and the late Edwin A. 
was a director in the former, and also an active manager ; he was 



698 JOHN STEVENS. 

also a large stockholder in the Morris and Essex Railroad. He 
had a strong penchant for applying the new motive power, steam, 
to all possible purposes, and was in his day esteemed one of the 
most active business men in the United States. 

Mr. Edwin A. Stevens died in 1868, leaving property valued at 
$40,000,000. He made many charitable bequests and legacies, the 
principal being the land and endowment fund " For an Institution 
of Learning." For this purpose his will directs that "All that 
block of land in Hoboken, bounded by Hudson street, River street 
and Sixth street, and the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars in stocks and bonds of the Morris and Essex Railroad 
Company," should be devoted to this object. He also directed 
that the building should be of "some substantial, but economical 
material, such as trap-rock — a plain building or buildings." He 
desired that these buildings should be erected and the institution 
put in operation "within three years" after his decease. 

If Mr. Stevens had desired his will to be strictly carried out in 
all particulars, he should have imitated Matthew Vassar and Peter 
Cooper, and seen to its execution in his lifetime. His will evi- 
dently contemplated an institution of learning for both sexes ; the 
Institute of Technology is limited to one. These are Mr. Stevens' 
exact words : " The tuition is not to be wholly free, except to such 
youth as said acting trustees shall direct; nor is it my intention 
that the cost of tuition of any youth shall be wholly paid by him 
or her. The proportion of payment by each youth I leave to the 
discretion of the acting trustee or trustees." The Stevens' Insti- 
tute of Technology is a noble institution, but its benefits are ex- 
clusively enjoyed by male youth. The lot of ground on which it 
stands is 425 feet by 200, the land and endowment fund being 
valued at $650,000. The course of instruction includes the De- 
partments of Mathematics and Mechanics, Belles Lettres, Lan- 
guages (French and German), Physics, Mechanical Drawing, and 
Mechanical Engineering. Recently there has been added a De- 
partment of Applied Electricity ; the scientific and mechanical 



JOHN STEVENS. 699 

apparatus is ample and of the most approved make. Mr. Edwin 
A. Stevens also gave the land on which the public schools of 
Hoboken stand: his will bears the date of April 15th, 1867. The 
family mansion and estate lie contiguous to the Institute of Tech- 
nology. Thirty acres of exquisitely cultivated land surround the 
dwelling, which is situated on an elevated projection of land known 
as Castle Point, the house itself being somewhat in the castellated 
form. The present home was built about twenty-five years ago, 
the original homestead still remaining on the place but devoted to 
other purposes. From the front and both sides of the house the 
most lovely views are obtained of the Hudson, New York city, the 
bay and Narrows ; the rear overlooks a part of Hoboken, and 
opens up views beyond to the Blue Hills of Jersey ; a beautiful 
curving road passes from the street, under a massive- archway, and 
reaches the noble mansion through well-kept lawns, old forest 
trees, flowers, and a profusion of statuary; extensive green- 
houses, well filled, attract the eye. Within, the main reception- 
room forms a pleasant contrast to the conventional drawing-room; 
it is of circular shape, of noble proportions, and is lit through a 
lofty dome ; the whole wall-space being devoted to works of art, 
paintings, and statuary, the latter in niches in the massive walls. 
In this beautiful home reside the widow and children of Mr. E. A. 
Stevens, who left five sons and one daughter. Mrs. Stevens is a 
very benevolent lady; she recently gave $10,000 for St. Paul's 
School, in Concord, New Hampshire. 

John Stevens, the eldest son, was born in 1856, and is conse- 
quently now about twenty-seven years of age ; he was through his 
early youth very delicate, but is now in very fair health. He was 
married in June, 1883, and is now in Europe with his bride, who 
was a Miss M'Guire, of Virginia. Mr. John Stevens is a person 
of quiet literary tastes, and does not appear to have inherited the 
mechanical and business enterprise of his father. But why should 
he seek to augment a fortune already too large to be easily 
managed ? 



700 JOHN STEVENS. 

The fortune left by the late E. A. Stevens being largely in real 
estate, is constantly increasing in value, and the heirs have com- 
bined their interests and formed among themselves an incorporated 
association, called the " Hoboken Land Improvement Company," 
which is managed by their agent ; it was for the value of the land 
which it occupied, and which by its presence was rendered unsal- 
able, that the present heirs of E. A. Stevens finally sold and got 
rid of the famous battery, which had cost about $2,000,000, and 
which was sold for $55,000. At one time, 1878, the Russian gov- 
ernment offered $125,000 for it, but the United States Government 
would not permit the sale of an armed vessel to be used against 
a friendly power. It was supposed that the iron would be finally 
used in the construction of the Hudson River Tunnel. Mr. 
Stevens had bequeathed this battery to the State of New Jersey, 
but the State made no use of it, and as it occupied valuable ground, 
the heirs brought suit to have the title declared to be in them. 
This the New Jersey courts refused to do, and the heirs then ap- 
plied to the United States Court. In this appeal they alleged that 
$2,000,000 had been already spent upon it, and that it was still 
incomplete, and to put it into a usable condition would require at 
least an additional $500,000. The order for the sale was finally 
granted by a Master in Chancery of New Jersey ; and thus has 
disappeared, scattered in fragments, a costly mechanical con- 
trivance, originated more than fifty years ago ; the conception of a 
brave, ingenious man, the object of lavish expenditure by another 
member of the same family, and undoubtedly a contrivance which, 
if it had been adopted by the government, would have been worth 
more for actual defence than any fort in the harbor, which existed 
at the time it was first offered to the navy department. Yet young 
John Stevens is to be congratulated that his magnificent estate is 
at last relieved from this white elephant, which has sat during 
all his lifetime, like an incubus on the land, now worth twice 
$40,000,000. 




WM. SHARON. 



HON. WILLIAM SHARON. 

Mr. Sharon is not one of those California millionaires who 
rushed wildly towards the gold-fields, scarcely knowing whither 
they went, so that they followed the loudest rumors. He was 
several years in the " Golden State " before he meddled with 
mines, either directly or indirectly. His antecedents too were 
different from many of that first grand army of fortune-hunters. 
He was at least a native American, born of Quaker stock in 
Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1821, but his ancestors had travelled 
thither from Pennsylvania, they being among the first settlers of 
that State, having accompanied William Penn with his first ship- 
load of colonists. William's parents were in comfortable circum- 
stances, and he received a collegiate education, and then studied 
law, intending to make that his profession ; he did practise it for 
some years, first in St. Louis, Missouri, and later in Carrolton, 
Illinois, where he was residing when the great gold discovery was 
announced. He was quite willing that others should do the dig- 
ging, and surmised that there might be quite as much profit in 
supplying the wants of those who did, as by participating in the 
exposure and fatigues of the pioneer. Instead, therefore, of buy- 
ing pick and shovel for himself he purchased a stock of dry goods, 
principally men's clothing, and opened a store in Sacramento, a 
sort of half-way house between San Francisco and the mines. 
Here he did remarkably well, until the disastrous floods of 1849-50, 
which swept his entire stock down the river and into the Pacific 
ocean. Not caring to subject himself to the possible repetition 
of such a disaster, he concluded to remove to San Francisco and 
open a business there. 

Not being able to replenish his stock without the delay of 

(701) 



7<D2 HON. WILLIAM SHARON. 

awaiting consignments from the East — then a tedious interim 
existing between orders sent and their fulfilment — a happy idea 
struck him. He would open a real estate office: that took neither 
time nor capital ; there was plenty of business of this kind, and 
his knowledge of law would greatly assist him in its prosecution, 
especially as from the shifting nature of the population of that 
period, and the frequent intervention of Mexican claimants, 
questions of law often occurred in these hasty purchases and con- 
veyances. 

Mr. Sharon was some fourteen years in making his first $150,- 
000, and not until he had realized about that amount did he begin 
to speculate in mining stocks ; and in these first essays he was 
not successful : so far as he was concerned his hardly earned 
fortune might as well have followed his stock of dry goods and 
become the jetsam and flotsam of the sea, for it as effectually 
disappeared from his grasp. But his losses were not attributed 
to incapacity, as was evidenced by the fact that at this juncture he 
was invited by the directors of the Bank of California to go to 
Virginia City to look after some of their interests in that place. 
In this affair he accomplished all that was hoped for, and per- 
ceiving the advantages which would accrue to all parties con- 
cerned, he urged upon the directors the advisability of establish- 
ing a branch office there, which was speedily done, Mr. Sharon 
being placed at the head of the new concern, with unrestricted 
powers. This gave him his opportunity. Remaining for several 
years in this position, he became intimately acquainted with the 
mining affairs of Nevada, and with his stock of experience greatly 
enlarged, he decided once more to venture among the speculators 
in stocks. On his resignation of his trust he placed the affairs of 
the branch bank in the hands of Mr. A. J. Ralston, a faithful and 
capable man. 

When Mr. Sharon first went to Nevada on behalf of the Bank 
of California it was just on the eve of a period of hard times ; 
the very next year the mines proved unremunerative ; the mills 



HON. WILLIAM SHARON. 703 

were stopped and general gloom pervaded the place. Mr. Wil- 
liam Ralston, then President of the Bank of California, in San 
Francisco, had lent large sums of money to the several companies 
engaged in these non-paying mines ; disaster stared him in the 
face, and he came out personally to Nevada to consult Mr. Sharon, 
and see for himself what the prospect really was of realizing on 
his speculative investments. To Mr. Ralston there appeared, after 
investigation, only one possible mode of relief, and that was to 
find some individual who would assume the liabilities of the bank 
and return to that institution the sums loaned ; if he could only 
find the man ready to do this he proposed to give a wide margin 
of time in which to cover the transaction. 

Mr. Sharon rose to the situation. He offered to assume all the 
obligations of the bank on condition of receiving a considerable 
sum in hand to prosecute the work on certain drifts, and to have 
two years' time in which to pay up the whole. This proposition 
was gratefully accepted, and Mr. Ralston went back to California 
relieved, but only for a time — it was the beginning of the flood 
which was to finally sweep him away. 

Mr. Sharon prospected for a new ledge and came upon one of 
the most favorable " finds " ever developed up to that time in 
Storey county. Activity was resumed and the whole region felt 
the effect of the new impetus. Instead of at the end of two years, 
in less than six months Mr. Sharon had paid back all his indebted- 
ness to the Bank of California and made the neat sum of $750,- 
000 for himself. The fame of his financial skill rose to par. He 
was elected a director of the Bank of California, and at that time 
no one stood higher in the financial circles of the Pacific coast, 
as a shrewd and enterprising manager, than did William Sharon. 
He still continued the management of the branch banks in 
Nevada. 

But a time came when the really great powers of his mind were 
drawn upon in a way demanding not only the exercise of great 
financial talent, but that far greater skill which knows how to sway 



704 HON. WILLIAM SHARON. 

the minds of other men — to look a great disaster in the face, and 
against the surging tide of excited, angry and despairing feeling to 
wring fresh victories out of defeat. 

When the Bank of California suspended, in that dreadful 
August of 1875, the terror and excitement was indescribable; so 
many people looked ruin in the face, the panic threatened to be 
so wide-spread, so many interests were paralyzed, that the bravest 
financiers stood still in dismay, not knowing what step to take next. 
At this crisis, when the terrible news was added to the general 
gloom that the " great-hearted Ralston " was no more, Mr. Sharon 
proved himself equal to the emergency. At his suggestion the 
meetings of the Stock Board with which he was connected, which 
could only under the circumstances have added new perplexities 
to the public excitement, were adjourned sine die. He next called 
a meeting of the stockholders, inviting other capitalists to be 
present, to consider what was to be done to sustain the credit of 
the State, for this was at stake. The Bank of California had 
direct relations with all the principal cities in Europe, and this 
suspension would be felt abroad as a most serious blow to the 
credit of California. The meeting was largely attended, but little 
hope or expectation was to be seen in the anxious, gloomy coun- 
tenances, either of the officers of the institution or the faces of 
creditors. Gloom like a death pall covered the assembly. Firmly, 
slowly, confidently Mr. Sharon arose to address the meeting. He 
succinctly sketched the history of the bank : what it had done for 
San Francisco, and what for the State. He recalled to those 
present the aid it had given them in urgent emergencies, and 
dilated upon the moral shock which the failure to redeem its 
obligations would inflict to the farthest ramifications of its busi- 
ness ties ; and he ended one of the most thrilling appeals ever 
addressed to a meeting of business men, by entreating capitalists 
to come forward and save the fair fame of the State by re-estab- 
lishing the bank on a firm foundation ; to assess themselves to 
secure the creditors, and finally presented a plan by which sub- 



HON. WILLIAM SHARON. 703 

scribers might eventually be reimbursed while saving the business 
interests of the place from utter collapse. 

The orator set the example of subscribing on the spot a munifi- 
cent sum ; the effect was contagious ; others quickly followed. 
The bank was re-established ; the credit of California saved. 

Mr. Sharon was the projector of the " Virginia (Nevada) & 
Tucker Railroad;" he induced the people of Washoe to subscribe 
$500,000 towards its construction ; having used this sum as far as 
it would go, he then succeeded in mortgaging what was already 
built for sufficient to construct the rest. Mr. Sharon is the princi- 
pal owner of the Palace Hotel, built by the late William C. Rals- 
ton in San Francisco, the largest and most costly hotel on the con- 
tinent ; he also owns an immense deal of real estate in other parts 
of the city, as elsewhere in the State and in Nevada. This Palace 
Hotel is constructed of iron and brick, and is nine stories in 
height ; the principal fagade is on Market street near Montgomery; 
the numerous bay-windows with railings have caused it to be 
likened to a monster bird-cage. Its principal charm is the central 
internal court, which has a glass roof; it is surrounded on all sides 
by promenade-galleries ; the ground-floor is covered with an as- 
phalt pavement, contains a fountain and spaces for groups of 
flowers ; there is a drive-way for carriages within, where many 
visitors come twice a week to hear music performed by a band. 
At night this central rendezvous is particularly brilliant, being illu- 
minated by electricity, which causes a dazzling reflection from the 
hundreds of white pillars sustaining the galleries. 

One of the most interesting events which has occurred for many 
years on the Pacific coast was the marriage of Mr. Sharon's 
daughter, Flora Emeline, in the last week of December, 1880. 
This young lady, who had been a recognized belle in San Fran- 
cisco, and who might be said to have had the choice of an unlimited 
number of admirers of native growth, was at last led captive by 
the fascinations of an English baronet, Sir Thomas George Fermor 
Hesketh, who happened to drop into the bay of San Francisco 
45 



J06 HON. WILLIAM SHARON. 

with his handsome steam-yacht, the " Lancashire Witch/' in which 
he was then making the tour of the world. The wedding, which 
was a splendid affair, took place at Senator Sharon's country- 
house at Belmont, a fashionable rendezvous of wealthy Califor- 
nians, some miles south of San Francisco, on the line of the San 
Jose Railroad. Over one thousand guests were invited ; and a 
special train conveyed the guests from the city to Belmont, where 
the festivities were conducted on a gorgeous scale. Shortly after 
the bridal couple departed for the husband's home in England, 
came back glowing accounts of the reception of Sir Thomas and 
his bride at his hereditary seat, Rufford Hall, Lancashire. He 
had been two years absent on his travels, and the whole com- 
munity joined in welcoming home the Lord of the Manor and his 
California bride. A graceful tribute to the nationality of the 
young wife was an arch of evergreens on which was a shield and 
flags ; on the former, upon a white ground, were lettered words in 
blue, with red initials, thus combining the American national col- 
ors in the inscription: "Welcome to Sir Thomas and Lady Hes- 
keth," the whole being surmounted by the Union Jack and the 
Stars and Stripes. 

Mr. Sharon concluded, in 1882, a long defensive litigation 
against the widow of the late William C. Ralston by a compromise. 
Just before the sudden death of the latter he had put into the 
hands of his friend, for the satisfaction of his creditors and the 
benefit of his family, deeds and securities of unknown value, of 
farming lands and other property, but which was generally be- 
lieved to be of value far in excess of all his indebtedness. The 
use of these assets for seven years without an accounting would 
have made the fortune of many a man not already a millionaire. 
The terms of this compromise are stated in the sketch of William 
C. Ralston. 

Mr. Sharon is estimated to be worth from $70,030,000 to 
$80,000,000. In 1874 he was elected to the Senate of the United 
States, which position he filled for the full term of six years. 



ADOLPH SUTRO. 

There has never been any single mining operation, in California 
or Nevada, except the discovery of the " bonanza " lodes, which 
has excited so much interest, not only on the spot where the work 
was progressing, but wherever the phrase " mining stock " had a 
meaning, as the prosecution of the "Sutro tunnel." The idea in- 
volved was gigantic in its proportions, and the money it was des- 
tined to swallow up was clearly seen by those invited to take a 
share in the work. The only problem to be solved was, would it 
pay when completed ? Few dared to risk their money in the pro- 
ject, when it was first proposed to tunnel the Washoe hills, in the 
vicinity of Carson river. But there was one man unwavering in 
the faith that an extended odit, or horizontal tunnel, would tap the 
Comstock lode in its grand reservoir, and repay the working with 
a magnificence yet undreamed of by the ordinary modes of attack, 
and that was Adolph Sutro. 

Mr. Sutro is a native of France, born about 1818 (of the 
Hebrew race), and a person of education, of experience and 
diplomatic ability. Before coming to California he had travelled 
extensively in Europe, and, unlike so many of the emigrants to the 
Pacific coast, had made mineralogy a study in the best polytechnic 
schools of his native land ; he was thus better prepared for practi- 
cal observation than the majority who had preceded him. 

When he first arrived in San Francisco he had not the capital 
which he deemed necessary to make a beginning in the mining 
districts. He was not of that buoyant excitable class, who were 
ready to take their picks on their shoulders and go forth at a ven- 
ture, vaguely prospecting here and there without any definite ideas 
of what they were to expect — hope, not knowledge, leading them 

(707) 



JOS ADOLPH SUTRO. 

on. Mr. Sutro took time to learn from the experience of others ; 
he took time to read, to inquire, to explore to a certain extent, 
while still occupying himself with a retail business in tobacco, in 
which, if the sums he dealt with were small, his sales were rapid, 
and bore a large profit in proportion to the cost, a profit consider- 
ably more than " cent per cent." He had visited Nevada and in- 
spected all the most promising mines of that marvelous district in 
Storey county, and conceived the idea of an immense tunnel 
through the heart of the mountain, in which was hidden the 
famous Comstock lode. In 1804 he had so far matured his idea 
as to set about making it a reality, and since that time, in pursu- 
ance of his object, he made twenty or more voyages to Europe, 
for the purpose of interesting capitalists there in his great work ; 
but his first practical step was to procure from the Legislature of 
Nevada the right of way " for the construction of a draining and 
mining tunnel," and this he obtained in February of 1865. Many 
of the mines had suffered much from flooding ; work was con- 
stantly being interrupted, first in one mine and then in another, 
while expensive machinery had to be brought from a distance to 
pump the water out, and in not a few instances labor seemed in- 
terminable, so that individuals and companies abandoned their 
claims rather than submit to the expense and delay of exhausting 
the water. Mr. Sutro's tunnel plan, it will be seen, was intended 
to strike this item of annoyance at its source, and divert the sub- 
terranean springs and streams away from the mines already 
opened, and to use the same water as a motive power in propel- 
ling needed machinery. Having procured his franchise, the next 
step was to persuade the several companies to take shares in the 
work. Of course there were many objections ; difficulties of all 
sorts were pointed out to the projector ; it was foreseen that the 
work would consume much time ; to the minds of most the bene- 
fits were uncertain ; capital lagged. Mr. Sutro issued a pamphlet, 
in which, at considerable length, he answered all the current objec- 
tions in a very able and convincing manner. It had its effect, and 



ADOLPH SUTRO. 709 

nearly all the companies who were in a position to be benefited, if 
the tunnel scheme succeeded, at last yielded to the pressure, and 
entered into arrangements with Mr. Sutro. These agreements 
were all similar in purport, and provided that "a royalty of two 
dollars per ton should be paid on all the ore extracted from the 
mines drained, benefited or developed by the tunnel, or which 
should be milled or sold, for all time to come." A tariff for freight 
and passengers through the tunnel was also fixed. And it shows 
with what good judgment these agreements were prepared by 
Mr. Sutro when the fact is considered, that in the practical work- 
ings no essential alteration has ever been found necessary. But 
the local Legislature could not grant all that was necessary to the 
full development of Mr. Sutro's plan, for the fee to the mines re- 
sided in the general government; and the energetic deviser of the 
plan was hence obliged to apply to Congress for an enlargement 
of privileges ; in this he was successful. 

The. following year, July 25th, 1866, Mr. Sutro procured the 
passage of an "act, granting all the privileges petitioned for, to 
aid in the construction of a draining and exploring tunnel to the 
Comstock lode." The act also enabled the grantee to buy the 
necessary amount of land at the mouth of the tunnel ; also to ac- 
quire ownership by purchases of any veins of ore which he might 
meet in running the tunnel. His rights of proprietorship being 
thus guaranteed, all Mr. Sutro needed was the money, and a very 
sore need it was. 

With that energy which had hitherto marked every step of his 
progress, Mr. Sutro now opened a subscription list, and though 
many still derided the project as chimerical, he soon obtained sub- 
scriptions to the amount of $100,000, and with this sum he com- 
menced operations in the month of October, 1869. The initial 
point is now called Sutro, and is in Lyon county. Sutro is now 
quite a considerable settlement, a good-sized village has grown 
up around it. This land, purchased from the United States, lies 
in the valley watered by the Carson river, the mouth of the tunnel 



7IO ADOLPH SUTRO. 

is within the boundaries of the town, and nearly a mile and a half 
from the course of the stream, entering the mountain side at an 
elevation of about one hundred and fifty feet above the bed of the 
Carson ; its general course is west-northwest, and its average 
grade is three inches in one hundred feet, the minimum fall at 
which water could be rapidly led away. During the first year a 
cut of 1,290 feet was made, but more efficient machinery was 
needed to prosecute the work with greater rapidity, and to secure, 
of course, earlier profits. Mr. Sutro's mental and physical activity 
was put to the highest test at this time; needing additional sup- 
plies of money, he knew this could only be obtained by procuring 
some reliable and disinterested testimony as to the intrinsic value 
of the work. He therefore applied once more to Congress, ask- 
ing for the appointment of a commission to examine the work 
already done, to pronounce upon the feasibility of its completion, 
and to estimate the cost of the latter. 

The President appointed two military engineers and a lay-scien- 
tist to the work, and in the summer of 1871 this commission made 
a very thorough examination of the tunnel so far as completed, 
and also of the Comstock mines. In making their report they 
stated that " they found the proposed work to be entirely feasible ; 
estimated the cost at $4,500,000, and the time necessary to com- 
plete it three or four years — less if suitable machinery was em- 
ployed/' They also gave it as their opinion that " the Comstock 
lode was a true fissure-vein extending down into the earth indefi- 
nitely." 

Armed with this favorable official report Mr. Sutro was now in 
a position to inspire the confidence of capitalists ; but the funds 
for the continuation of the work were principally raised in Europe. 
New vigor was infused into the undertaking, improved machinery 
was erected, and four vertical shafts were opened along the line 
of the tunnel before the close of 1871. One was at a distance of 
nearly five thousand feet from the mouth and five hundred and 
twenty-two feet in height. 



ADOLPH SUTRO. 7 1 I 

From this shaft " drifts " were started to the east and west, and 
connected with the tunnel-heads ; steam-pumps for exhausting the 
water which had accumulated were erected, and from the first 
shaft the water was ejected at the rate of 3,000,000 gallons a 
month : other shafts were placed at suitable intervals, and in 1872 
an air-shaft was added.. 

In 1878-9 the tunnel reached its destined limits — fetching up at 
the west wall of the Comstock lode. On the 8th of July a con- 
nection was made with the 1,640 feet level of the "Savage" mine 
— 20,018 feet from the mouth of the tunnel. A tremendous rush 
of air from the tunnel into the Savage shaft announced the joyful 
news to the miners at work there in a temperature of 120 degrees. 
By this happy ventilation the heat was soon reduced to 90 de- 
grees. Branch tunnels soon followed: the "Julia Mine Company" 
being the first to avail itself of all the facilities offered by the 
Sutro tunnel. This company immediately made a contract with 
the proprietor of the latter to build a branch tunnel to the base of 
their shaft, a distance of 1,400 feet, and of die same dimensions 
as the main tunnel ; namely, eight feet in height by ten in width. 
Through this their supplies are received and debris disposed of; 
ventilation secured, and the general cost of operating their mine 
sensibly reduced, particularly in the matter of drainage, while the 
atmosphere is incalculably improved and rendered more fit for the 
laborer, whose vitality was thus greatly increased: of course con- 
nection with other mines followed in due course of time. 

Water is one of the first necessities in a mining district, but 
water in the wrong place is the cause not only of a great deal of 
annoyance but great expense — sometimes cutting off access to 
valuable veins of ore, or delaying the work for an indefinite 
period. About 1875-6 there was struck in the Savage mine, at a 
depth of about 2,200 feet, a stream of very hot water; it increased 
rapidly in force ; all the machinery in the mine, aided by the force- 
pumps of the Hale & Norcross and the Gould & Curry, did not 
suffice to keep the water below the 1,700 feet level. For three 



71 2 



ADOLPH SUTRO. 



years these enormous force-pumps were run at their utmost ca- 
pacity, and still the source appeared not to be reached ; an im- 
mense quantity of water was all this time being raised from 1,500 
to 2,000 feet with a force hitherto unknown in mining operations. 
It began to look as though the mine must be abandoned, but hap- 
pily at this point the Sutro tunnel was fast approaching the Sav- 
age ; a way out of the difficulty was opened; a connection was 
made at a depth of about 1,600 feet, and the water was finally dis- 
charged by this great drain, and the Savage was saved from in- 
solvency. The Sutro tunnel is over four miles in length, and had 
cost when completed $6,000,000. 

Aside from Mr. Adolph Sutro the family have an interesting 
history. The father, who died in 1847, was the proprietor of a 
large cloth-factory at Aix-la-Chapelle, after which his widow with 
her fourteen children came to this country (in 1850) and at first 
settled in Baltimore, while her famous son was engaged on the 
great tunnel. In 1873 she removed to the State of New York, 
and was still living in the beautiful Villa Rosa, at In wood on the 
Hudson, where she died on the 1st of August, 1883. Only a few 
months previously the eightieth birthday anniversary of this vig- 
orous old lady was celebrated. Ten of her children are living, 
and her direct descendants number over fifty, and of these thirty- 
six were present, ranging from four to sixty-three years of age. 
Mr. Adolph Sutro and another son, with their families, being in 
Europe, were not represented on this occasion. Mrs. Sutro sat in 
an arm-chair between two pedestals, surmounted by large palms 
and garlanded with roses. The various talents of the family, 
musical and literary, precluded the necessity of any foreign aid in 
carrying out the elaborate programme. A feature of the menu 
was the symbolic reminiscences of different countries, cities, and 
events, marking epochs in the long life which was thus celebrated. 
One brilliant object was the birthday-cake, bearing eighty-six wax 
candles. Well might Mrs. Rose Sutro be proud of her family, as 
they showed their pride in her. 




FERNANDO WOOD. 



FERNANDO WOOD. 

For over thirty years there was no name more familiar to the 
ears of New Yorkers than that which heads this chapter. All 
were not agreed as to the measure of admiration which was his 
due, but none were in any doubt as to his ability as a managing 
politician, or as to his general capacity in business affairs. He was 
in some sort an anomaly to those who put their trust in the science 
of heredity. One of the most able disputants, and full of that 
kind of courage which can control the passions of the lowest 
classes, he was in his element as the leader of the oft-times turbu- 
lent members of Tammany and Mozart Hall ; he could defy a 
governor's warrant, and collect a posse of his braves about him, 
ready to use physical force against the authority of the State, or 
entertain with elegant hospitality the elite of Washington society : 
yet this man's own mother was a quiet member of the Society of 
Friends, and his ancestors on both sides of the house were 
Quakers — not ordinary Quakers by any means, for they were of 
the militant sort. His earliest American ancestor, Henry Wood, 
was one of that persecuted sect who was driven from the settle- 
ments of Massachusetts by the fanaticism of the Puritans. He was 
a ship-builder, and when ordered from the Plymouth colony he 
fled with his family in a small sloop, sailing southward, uncertain 
where to settle ; mistrusting the Dutch colony on Manhattan Isl- 
and he struck at last the shore of Delaware, probably having 
heard that there was " toleration " there : the site where he 
beached his little sloop is now New Castle. The country was 
then (1655) occupied, so far as it was settled by Europeans, by 
colonists from Sweden ; but he did not encroach upon their hospi- 
tality ; the land was all before him where to choose. He followed 

(713) 



J14 FERNANDO WOOD. 

the course of the river for thirty miles, then striking inland a short 
distance, a few miles from where is now located the city of Camden, 
New Jersey. Here he cleared away the forest trees, built a log- 
house, cultivated the ground, and lived in peace with the Indians, 
and such stray settlers as came up the Delaware river, for twenty- 
eight years; then a great event happened in 1683 : William Penn 
came sailing up the river. He had bought out the Swedish colo- 
nies, and had come to found the great State of Pennsylvania and 
the city of Philadelphia. Fernando Wood's great-great-grand- 
father, Henry, was the first white man to board Penn's vessel, and 
to welcome him to America. Penn confirmed Mr. Wood's title to 
the land upon which he had settled, and name.d the place Peashore. 
Here, for one hundred and sixty-six years, Fernando Wood's an- 
cestors lived, died, and were buried. 

There seems to have been a strong infusion of the fighting 
quality in this family: Fernando's eldest brother emigrated to 
Texas, and was at the storming of the Alamo at the battle of San 
Jacinto. These W T oods must have been very eccentric sort 'of 
Quakers : that sect as is well known most emphatically condemn 
the reading of romances, yet it is stated on good authority that 
Fernando was named after the leading character in that old-fash- 
ioned, blood-curdling novel called " The Three Spaniards." Young 
Wood received from a grammar school in New York about as 
much education as a lively boy can absorb into his intellectual 
system between the ages of seven and thirteen. At that imma- 
ture age he was determined to earn his own living, and employed 
by an exchange-broker at two dollars a week, and on that sum 
undertook to live an independent life — leaving home and engaging 
board in Oliver street for one dollar and fifty cents a week. He 
was smart and active, and pleased his employers so that in the 
course of a few months he was raised to three dollars and fifty 
cents per week, and not long after another broker offered him five 
dollars a week, and so he transferred his services to this new 
employer. 



FERNANDO WOOD. 715 

At one period of his career Fernando Wood was badly stage- 
struck. It was when the Chatham street theatre was in the hey- 
day of its glory, and being a constant frequenter of this dramatic 
temple he was strongly tempted to try his fortune before the foot- 
lights; but very opportunely he was just then sent by his employer 
to Virginia to take charge of a tobacco factory in Richmond. This 
gave a new direction to his thoughts, and on returning to New 
York in 1832 he set up in business for himself, opening a tobacco 
store in Pearl street. This was the great cholera year in New 
York : there have been other seasons when that dreaded disease 
prevailed as an epidemic, but not to the extent which it did at that 
time. The vast majority of merchants closed their stores and left 
the city. In Mr. Wood's neighborhood his shop was the only one 
remaining open. He made no effort to get away, and in connect 
tion with a few other gentlemen was of great service to the poor 
sufferers in his ward. 

At this period the word " nullification " was uppermost on every 
politician's lips ; in fact every citizen who took a proper interest in 
the country was astounded at the new doctrine propounded by 
John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. Mr. Wood became an ardent 
advocate of General Jackson, and made his debut in national poli- 
tics by writing a review of Governor Hayne's nullification mes- 
sage ; indeed, at this time he became so deeply interested in poli- 
tics that he neglected his business to that extent as to ultimately 
involve his failure. His store was closed, and he once more ac- 
cepted a clerkship in West street. But about a year later, in 1836, 
he re-established himself in a business of his own — this time as a 
grocer — at the corner of Washington and Rector streets. Profit- 
ing by his late experience he now gave his entire attention to his 
own affairs and let politics alone. He prospered greatly at this 
time and extended his business so as to include shipping and the 
coasting trade: in 1838 he owned three vessels and was already 
accounted a wealthy man. And now he once more ventured to 
turn his attention to politics, which seemed to have an almost irre- 



7 I 6 FERNANDO WOOD. 

sistible attraction for him, and being upon an independent finan- 
cial basis, he was at liberty to gratify this passion without detriment 
to his estate. 

He was elected to Congress, and took his seat in May, 1841 ; 
he then became known as "a working member." He was a ready 
speaker, and entered freely into debate with old Congressional vet- 
erans, losing nothing in the comparison, not even declining a 
contest with "the old man eloquent," John Quincy Adams. At 
this time Morse was striving to get permission to put up his tele- 
graph wires between Washington and Baltimore, but the House 
of Representatives, which seems to have been composed of any- 
thing but scientists, had refused to listen to his "chimerical 
schemes ; " but Mr. Wood took up the matter with enthusiasm, 
and so importuned individual members that he at last procured a 
vote in favor of allowing Mr. Morse to run his wires from the 
House to the Senate Chamber (the room now occupied by the 
Supreme Court), a distance of some 400 feet; the success of this 
experiment could not fail of course to convince members of its 
utility, and a complete victory for " Morse's Telegraph " was the 
result, and this event also had the effect of making Mr. Wood very 
popular in the House, some of the oldest Whig members, like 
Adams and Clay, becoming his fast friends. 

In 1840 Mr. Wood had married a daughter of J. L. Richardson, 
of Auburn, New York. It was perhaps on this account that after 
the close of his first Congressional term he once more abandoned 
politics, and reappeared in the lower part of New York as a ship- 
ping and commission merchant. His experience in Congress had 
taught him many things, and among others, his own ignorance of 
many matters — the result of his deficient schooling in early life. 
For two years he devoted himself to study, to better fit himself to 
fill any office which his constituents might bestow upon him. In 
1850 he received the Democratic nomination for Mayor, but was 
defeated by the Whig candidate ; this gave him two years more 
of leisure for his books, which he used with all the ardor of an 
ambitious youth, though he was now nearly forty years of age. 



FERNANDO WOOD. 7 1 7 

In 1854 Mr. Wood was again a candidate for the mayoralty, and 
Was elected by a plurality over three other candidates, who con- 
tested his election that fall. To the astonishment of his opponents 
and the consternation of those who had expected a lax administra- 
tion, Mr. Wood commenced his career as mayor in the role of 
Reformer. He issued a proclamation against liquor-selling on 
Sunday, and actually closed 2,300 saloons ; the streets, which in 
some portions of the city had been invested with roughs, were 
entirely cleared of all dangerous characters ; noisy and extortion- 
ate hackmen were suppressed, gambling-houses closed, and the 
streets properly cleaned ; he personally investigated complaints 
made by the poor and others, which were entered in a record of 
his own devising, called the " Mayor's Complaint Book." All this 
zeal was like a new revelation to a majority of the citizens, and the 
religious element was gratified beyond measure, and thought an 
angel had been elected mayor in the disguise of a Tammany Hall 
Democrat. But for his own political security he carried the re- 
forming spirit one step too far, or at least in a dangerous direction 
— he undertook to reform the police ! he assumed entire charge 
of the department, declared that merit and not reward for partisan 
services should be his rule in appointments, removals, or promo- 
tions. There was strong opposition to this course in certain 
quarters, and a bill was sent to Albany designed to thwart the 
power of the mayor, but the respectable citizens of New York 
publicly rallied in his defence, and the bill failed to pass. In 1855 
there was not a more popular man in New York than Fernando 
Wood. His name was spoken of for governor, and a delegation 
came from far-off Iowa to ask his consent to their nomination of 
him for President. In 1856 there was a split in the Democratic 
ranks, and four candidates for the mayoralty contested that office 
with Mr. Wood, but he was re-elected by nearly 10,000 plurality, 
although Fremont had carried the State by 80,000. It is impos- 
sible in the limits of this sketch to give a succinct history of this 
stormy administration, but suffice it to say, that after an interim 



71 8 FERNANDO WOOD. 

of two years, Mr. Wood was again elected Mayor of New York, 
over William F. Havemeyer and George Opdyke. It was during 
this term of his mayoralty that the Prince of Wales visited New 
York and was entertained by him. 

When the civil war broke out Mayor Wood took a unique posi- 
tion — sending a message to the Common Council recommending 
that the city of New York should side neither with the North nor 
South, but should "declare itself a free and independent city!" 
This scheme was very coolly received, and soon ceased to be men- 
tioned. After the fall of Fort Sumter, Mayor Wood wheeled into 
line with the loyal North, and issued a ringing patriotic proclama- 
tion. Soon after this time, he began to differ with the manage- 
ment of Tammany Hall, and the quarrel resulted in the withdrawal 
of Mr. Wood and his partisans, and the ex-mayor thereupon 
organized his faction of the party as "the Mozart Hall Democracy," 
which became a very powerful organization. It was by this body 
that Mr, Wood was renominated for mayor in 1861, but failed of 
an election. 

Mr. Wood now abandoned local politics, and turned his atten- 
tion to the wider sphere of Washington. By a treaty of peace 
between Mozart Hall and Tammany, he became the " regular 
Democratic " candidate for Representative in Congress, and was 
elected. Here he took a prominent position as a debater, and was 
noted as one of the shrewdest parliamentary tacticians. In 1864 
he ran again as an independent candidate and was successful, 
repeating these tactics in 1866 with the same result, and was 
again re-elected to the Forty-first Congress by the large majority 
of 14,648 votes, and to the Forty-second Congress by nearly 
16,000 votes. He again represented New York in the Forty- 
third, the Forty-fourth, and the Forty-fifth Congress successively. 
In every session he was an active worker, and was prominently 
brought before the whole country as Chairman of the important 
Ways and Means Committee, to which he was appointed by 
Speaker Randall. No one person had as much influence as he 



FERNANDO WOOD. 7 l 9 

in procuring the passage of the three per cent, funding bill in tho 
House. When Horace Greeley was nominated for the Presidency, 
he gave him his cordial support, though probably no paper in 
New York had more severely criticised Mayor Wood than had 
the Tribune. 

At this time Mr. Wood was a very striking figure even among 
the notabilities of Washington ; he was a spare man, six feet high, 
and as straight as an arrow ; his features were finely cut and reg- 
ular ; he had blue eyes and was very pale ; his perfectly white 
moustache, more than his general appearance, indicated his ad- 
vanced age. He died at Hot Springs, Arkansas, on the 14th of 
February, 188 1, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. Mr. Wood was 
married three times ; he left eleven children and a widow, who 
still survives him. He left an estate valued at several million 
dollars. 



ALFRED S. BARNES. 

Mr. Alfred S. Barnes, the head of the great school-book pub- 
lishing house in New York, was in early life a resident of Hart- 
ford, where he made his debut as a publisher by issuing a small 
edition of Davis' Arithmetic, which was the precursor of a long 
line of similar works of an advanced grade by the same author, 
Professor Charles Davies, of West Point. From the start Mr. 
Barnes determined to publish no books but such as he believed 
would stand on their own merits — "good books," in every sense 
of the word ; an entirely different principle to that which influences 
most publishers, who look rather to the popularity of an author, 
or a great name, than to the intrinsic value of the work offered. 
While still in Hartford, Mr. Barnes published several works of 
Mrs. Willard's, the renowned principal of the Female Troy Semi- 
nary ; he subsequently removed his business to Philadelphia, but 
did not remain there long ; wisely concluding that the metropolis 
alone was the place to build up such a business as he was already 
contemplating. Thus, in 1845, we ^ n< ^ mm located in John street, 
on the corner of Dutch. Here the famous " Teachers' Library " 
series was issued, and a whole line of geographical works. Then 
followed a set on Chemistry. The " National Series " of Readers, 
which was issued in 1870, required an investment of $25,000 be- 
fore a single copy was printed. 

From school-books in English, A. S. Barnes & Co. next under- 
took the publication of Greek text-books. A very interesting 
novelty among the Barnes' publications is the " Dictionary of Eng- 
lish Phrases," by Kwong Ki Chin, lately a member of the Chinese 
Educational Mission in the United States. This is the first at- 
tempt ever made in this country to popularize the English lan- 
(720) 



ALFRED S. BARNES. 721 

guage for the use of resident Chinese, and incidentally to give 
Americans an insight into the structure of the Chinese language ; 
the book is particularly useful in a commercial point of view. 

Besides academical text-books and histories, this firm have gone 
extensively into religious publications and church-books. "Barnes' 
Educational Monthly" gives a resume of all matters of interest re- 
lating to education, either in this country or elsewhere. Another 
periodical issued by them is the " Magazine of American History." 
"The International Review," a first-class bi-monthly, was founded 
by the firm in 1874. 

The orifice of publication of the firm has been, for some years, 
at the corner of John and William streets, very near the original 
site of the infant business, which may now truly be called gigantic. 
This is a large five-story building. On the first floor are found 
not only books and stationery, but all the modern appliances and 
inventions to be found in the furnishing of a modern model school- 
room. But probably the most interesting room to the visitor 
would be that on the fifth floor, where sits a man whose whole 
time is spent in destroying books. Near him is a large bin, and, 
as he seizes one book at a time, tears off the covers, and separates 
page from page, and then tosses the fragments into the bin, one 
might easily imagine that he was some wicked fiend opposed to 
spreading the light of education, and striving to undo the good 
work of the publication office below. Three years ago Mr. Barnes 
erected a large factory in Brooklyn, near the terminus of the 
great East River Bridge, on the corner of Nassau and Liberty 
streets. Here all the work of printing, binding, and shipping is per- 
formed ; over this establishment Mr. E. M. Barnes presides. Mr. 
Alfred S. Barnes resides in Brooklyn ; he is still hale and hearty, 
and has never had occasion to regret his early determination to 
print " none but good books." He has tested the truth of the say- 
ing, " that godliness is profitable to all things," even to filling the 
money-coffers of the godly business men. 
46 



THURLOW WEED. 

Thurlow Weed has variously passed into history as the " Amer- 
ican Warwick," the " King Maker," the bete noir of the Albany 
Regency, as the most virulent of Anti-Masons, as a leading Whig, 
a Republican manager, and somewhat unjustly as " The Father of 
the Lobby," and at all times an adroit and usually successful poli- 
tician. No one in speaking of this great leader of men, while 
living, ever thought or spoke of him as a millionaire ; no one asked 
how much money he had, but rather concerned themselves with 
the secret tactics which he was likely to propose in the committee 
room, or in the secret conclave at room No. u,in the Astor 
House. 

This remarkable man was born in Greene county, New York, 
November 15th, 1797. His parents were poor; farming and team- 
ing was the occupation of his father. Thurlow first broke away 
from the drudgery of country life by taking a place as cabin-boy in 
a Hudson river sloop, bound for New York — making his debut 
in that city by carrying a passenger's trunk ashore on his back ; 
but being a born journalist he soon drifted into a printing office, 
working successfully on several papers ; the weekly "Lynx" pub- 
lished at Onondaga Hollow, being the first. Here, in 181 1-12, he 
succumbed to the seductive recruiting sergeant and enlisted with 
all the ardor of a boy of fifteen to " fight the British." His extra- 
ordinary intelligence induced his Colonel, young as he was, to give 
him a commission as Quartermaster's Sergeant. When the war 
was over, he resumed the life of a wandering "jour," and from 
18 1 6 to 18 1 8 was at work with the late James Harper at Fan- 
shaw's office, in New York, running an old Ramage press. Being 
seized with the editorial fever, he started the Republican Agricul- 
(722) 



THURLOW WEED. 723 

turalist, in Oxford, Chenango county, December ioth, 1818; then 
followed his connection with the Onondaga Times, which he changed 
to the Republican, and in 1823 he was editing the Rochester Tele- 
graph; and three years later he bought out, in connection with a 
friend, the Rochester Balance, which he transformed into the Anti- 
Masonic Inquirer. From this period his name becomes an insep- 
arable factor in State politics. About this time a man was found 
drowned in Lake Ontario ; it was claimed to be the body of a 
person named Morgan — a renegade Mason ; the fraternity being 
accused of his death, there was a question of identity raised, 
and to the minds of the brotherhood never settled ; but the popu- 
lar excitement was intense and divided political parties for some 
years into Mason and Anti-Mason factions; Mr. Weed espoused 
the latter, and during the crusade against the ancient Order he 
was twice elected to the Assembly.. To him. was attributed, with 
some inexactness, the saying, not yet obsolete in political circles — 
"It's a good enough Morgan till after election. " In 1882, shortly 
before his death, Mr. Weed gave to the public the whole details of 
this affair; all the parties who could be injured by the revelation 
being then dead. With the exception of these two terms in the 
Assembly, Mr. Weed never held any elective office, nor any other 
official position, save that of State Printer, though he could have 
had at any time between 1.827 and i860, perhaps later, any office 
he desired which was within the gift of his party. He was one of 
the prominent men who consolidated the floating elements on the 
anti-Jackson, old Federal and Anti-Masonic factions, into the form 
of the new Whig party — his particular friend and confidant, Wil- 
liam H. Seward, being the first Whig candidate for Governor in the 
State of New York. 

Simultaneously with this movement Mr. Weed started the since 
influential and famous Evening Journal at Albany, its first appear- 
ance being in March, 1830. Through this paper he attacked the 
old powerful Democratic " Regency," consisting of such men as 
Martin Van Buren, William L. Marcy, Silas Wright, and others of 



724 THURLOW WEED. 

that ilk, with perfect fearlessness, and a power of incisive expres- 
sion seldom equalled and never surpassed. While Horace Greeley 
was writing two-column articles on a given subject, Thurlow Weed 
would take up the same matter, and in a single paragraph put the 
argument in a shape to impress the memory far more forcibly and 
effectively. During the "Clay Campaign" in 1844, the Albany 
Journal was the cause of adding the word " Roorback " to the 
English language, his paper giving currency to that famous canard. 
On the outbreak of the civil war, Mr. Weed was sent to Europe 
by Mr. Lincoln, to see Earl Russell and other English officials, to 
explain the true situation of affairs, which mission he performed 
to the entire satisfaction of the President and the Secretary of 
State. He sold out the Albany Journal in 1864, but never wholly 
refrained from connection with the press, for some time holding 
an interest in the New York Commercial Advertiser, and during 
his latter years writing many letters on public affairs to the 
Tribune. He had no desire for office, or what is generally called 
fame, but he aimed to rule men, and he did it ; for thirty-five or 
forty years no one person in the party had so much influence as 
he. Thurlow Weed died on the 2 2d of November, 1882. He left 
three daughters and several grandchildren, who were his residuary 
legatees, after the payment of some bequests to charitable insti- 
tutions; his estate was estimated at from $1,000,000 to $1,250,000. 
The precise value did not appear by the will, but he was known to 
have an income of at least $70,000. The house in which he died 
in Twelfth street, New York, cost $55,000. Most of his property 
was in railroad stocks and government bonds, but he had some 
landed property on Staten Island, and also in Iowa ; he never 
made any display of his wealth, living in quiet opulence with his 
devoted unmarried daughter. 




JAY GOULD. 



JAY GOULD. 

Mr. Jay Gould is one among many men in the United States 
who has built up an enormous fortune solely by the force of his 
own ability. Beginning life in the humblest circumstances, he has 
hewn his own path up the hill of financial eminence, until to-day 
he stands among the wealthiest men in this country, and may yet 
become the first of them all. Every step of his life has been made 
in spite of obstacles which would have overwhelmed men of less 
commanding ability. Not a scheme that he has planned has failed 
to meet with bitter and determined opposition, but he has broken 
down every bar to his movements by the power of his own un- 
aided genius. He has been called the Napoleon of finance, and 
fully merits the name. His combinations have been so vast, his 
plans so gigantic, his reserve forces so astonishing, and his vic- 
tories so decisive, that he deserves to be classed with the great 
commander, who astonished Europe by the rapidity and complete- 
ness of his victories. 

The accumulation of a fortune which is estimated at from 
$50,000,000 to $100,000,000 is an achievement which may well 
excite the wonder of all men. People are prone to imagine that 
results of this kind are due to good fortune, or, as it is commonly 
called, luck. The simple story of Mr. Gould's life will show that 
what he has achieved is due to his keen observation, his foresight, 
his prudence, and his indomitable energy. 

Jason, now Jay Gould, was born at Roxbury, Delaware county, 
New York, on the 27th of May, 1836. His father's name was 
John B. Gould, and his mother's Mary. John B. Gould died in 
1866, and his wife died when her son was only ten years of age. 
Of his life much has been recently learned through his own state- 

(725) 



726 JAY GOULD. 

ments before the Senate Investigation Committee on Labor and 
Education. On this occasion Mr. Gould, who is a slight, agile 
man, appeared dressed in a suit of black diagonal ; a heavy gold 
watch-chain hung from his vest; eye-glasses swung from a silk 
cord around his neck, his cuff-studs were large, and set with 
diamonds and rubies ; his appearance was greeted with a look of 
revived interest by the wearied members of the committee. In 
answer to the query if "he would tell something of his early life ?" 
he expressed the opinion that it " was rather silly to talk about 
such small matters ; " but to gratify them he consented to do so. 
He said in substance that his father was a small farmer, who kept 
twenty cows, which it was his duty to drive to pasture and assist 
in milking, and he added, "I went about barefooted, and often got 
thistles in my feet." He very early became dissatisfied with that 
sort of life, and asked his father to let him go to school ; his father 
raised some objection, but he went, and then, somewhat later, Jay 
proposed that if his father would "give him his time," that he 
would go away and try and make his fortune. "All right," said 
his father, "go ahead." The lad must have been a somewhat pre- 
cocious youth, with great self-confidence, to think he could at that 
age, only fourteen, earn his own living. His father probably 
expected to see him back in a day or two. But Jay was in earnest. 
He started ri^ht off to a blacksmith's — not to -work at the anvil, 
but offering to write up his books, receiving board in payment. 
A year later he procured a clerkship in the country store of Squire 
Burnham, working from six o'clock in the morning till ten at night, 
sweeping out in the morning, and making himself generally useful. 
It has often been a question how Mr. Gould acquired his first 
knowledge of surveying. In his remarks before the committee he 
partially explained it. He had a natural taste for mathematics, 
and while working all day in the store, used to get up at three in 
the morning and study, and learned through this means all that 
books could teach him about engineering and surveying. Thus 
he had the theoretical part to start with, and he learned the prac- 



JAY GOULD. 727 

tical by going straight to work at it. Hearing of a surveyor in 
Ulster county who needed an assistant, he engaged with him " for 
$20 per month and found." But there was no money to be had 
in advance, and his employer evidently meant that he should prac- 
tice the Napoleonic tactics of making the country through which 
he passed support him.. Mr. Gould says that this sharp man, whom 
he did not name, gave him a small pass-book, and said to him : 
"As you go along, get trusted for what you eat and your lodgings, 
and I will follow after you and pay the bills." Not liking to do 
this, for the first two days he paid his way ; but his money gave 
out, and gaining some courage by the third day, he tried to get 
trusted for a meal, valued at two and sixpence, but the farmer de- 
clined to accept his indorser, saying that he "paid no one," and 
insisting on young Gould paying for what he wanted; but he really 
had no money, and turned his pockets inside out to prove it. 
This rebuff had a very depressing effect upon the young surveyor, 
"and," says Mr. Gould, "it seemed to me that the world had about 
come to an end ; I doubted whether I should go ahead or give up. 
I sat down in the woods where no one could see me and had a 
good cry." Then he thought of another remedy against disaster, 
and he knelt down then and there and prayed. After that he felt 
better. Not only that, but he determined to " go ahead." Shortly 
after he met with a woman, who gave him some bread and milk, 
speaking kindly to him, and making no objection when he said he 
" would pay her some other time." After he had gone on a little 
way, her husband came calling after him, which alarmed him very 
much, as he supposed he wanted money for what he had eaten ; 
but he found instead that he only wanted him to "make a noon- 
mark, to tell time by." Fortunately Mr. Gould knew how to do 
this, and having the proper instruments with him, it was soon 
done. "How much is it?" asked the farmer. "Oh, that's all 
right," he replied. "No, it ain't," he said; "the regular surveyor 
charges a dollar for such work." "Well, then, a dollar is the 
price," was the response. " He gave me," said Mr. Gould, " seven 



728 JAY GOULD. 

shillings, keeping back one shilling foY the bread and milk — that," 
he added, " is the first money I ever earned ! " which would cer- 
tainly imply that he had only received board in payment for his 
v work with the blacksmith, and his clerkship also. The person 
who employed him in surveying failed to pay him. 

It was shortly after this time that he determined to improve 
upon his baptismal name, and substitute the modern "Jay" for the 
classical " Jason," though the latter, as the prototype of the suc- 
cessful seeker of the golden fleece,, would have been eminently 
appropriate. There seems to have been some special intervention 
of the fickle goddess Fortune by which this man, afterward to be 
the greatest of American railroad kings, learned, while a boy, the 
very science by which railroads are built. The first record of his 
work as a surveyor appeared in 1856, when Collins G. Keeney, of 
Nos. 17 and 19 Union street, Philadelphia, published a map of 
Delaware county, bearing the words : " From Actual Survey by 
Jay Gould." We again hear of his surveying in Rensselaer county 
at the time of the anti-rent disturbance. The anti-rent people, 
seeing him at work, at once fancied it was some movement of the 
enemy to drive them from their farms. They attacked Gould and 
destroyed his instruments, and he saved himself from serious in- 
jury by a masterly retreat. 

He next went to Prattsville, Pennsylvania, where he was em- 
ployed in the tannery of Colonel Zadoc Pratt. This gentleman 
took an interest in the young man, and subsequently started him 
in the tannery business, at a station on the Delaware & Lacka- 
wanna Railroad, near the place now known as Goldsboro, Penn- 
sylvania. Mr. Gould was then at the age of twenty-three. The 
town of Goldsboro is said to have been named in his honor. 

There have been many different versions of Mr. Gould's first 
appearance in New York. One story, which he tells himself with 
great glee, and which is undoubtedly the true one, belongs evi- 
dently to a date long prior to his entry into Wall street. 

This story is to the effect that at an early age he invented a 



JAY GOULD. 729 

wonderful mouse-trap, intended to completely revolutionize all 
known methods of catching the wary mouse. With this he went 
to New York. There he boarded. a car and started to ride up- 
town. Attracted by the activity of the streets and the size of the 
buildings, something new to the inexperienced country lad, he 
went upon the platform of the car to look around him, leaving his 
box containing the mouse-trap on the seat. When he returned 
the box was gone, and he was informed that it had been taken by 
a man who had just left the car. He ran after the man, seized 
him by the collar, and had him arrested. To his own disgust he 
was also locked up as a witness. He always said afterward, that 
his first experience in New York, as a prisoner in the House 
of Detention, almost prevented him from ever returning to that 
city. 

It must have been about this time that Mr. Gould first met the 
estimable lady who became the partner of his future successes. 
At any rate he first saw Miss Miller while he was staying at the 
Everett House, in New York. The bright, handsome girl attracted 
his admiration in so pronounced a manner that she noticed it. A 
little flirtation followed and was succeeded by acquaintance. This 
ripened into mutual affection, and, without consulting the young 
lady's parents, they were married. Of course Mr. Miller was filled 
with righteous indignation at first, but he soon became convinced 
that his daughter had married a young man of great ability, and 
that he ought to help him instead of frowning upon him. Mr. 
Miller was largely interested in the Rensselaer & Saratoga Rail- 
road, which connects Troy and Saratoga. Young Gould was ac- 
cordingly sent to take charge of this road, which was in an almost 
bankrupt condition, its securities selling for a few cents on the dol- 
lar. Mr. Gould's management saved the company from ruin. He 
improved the service and rolling stock of the road ; managed it so 
that out of the constantly increasing receipts the debts were paid, 
and finally put the road on a paying basis. And here, for the first 
time, the instincts of the Wall street man were show r n. When the 



73° JAY GOULD. 

road had been so improved that its securities were worth many 
times as much as they had previously been, it was found that Jay 
Gould owned nearly all the stqck. He sold out for $750,000, and 
went to New York with that fortune as a basis for future opera- 
tions. 

It ouodit to be noted that the method of Mr. Gould's first stock 
operation is the one which he has pursued ever since. He bought 
a railroad when it was almost worthless; he made it valuable ;- 
then, seeing an opportunity to put his money in a better place, he 
sold out and realized an immense profit. 

Mr. Gould has himself stated that when the Rutland & Wash- 
ington Road to Troy was offering its first mortgage bonds at ten 
cents on the dollar, that he bought them all on credit at that fig- 
ure, and then became the president, treasurer, general superin- 
tendent and owner of a road about sixty miles long. He was then 
learning the railroad business ; he developed this road, and when 
it became part of the Rensselaer & Saratoga, he sold his stock at 
$120 and went West. 

When Mr. Gould went to New York he was, of course, wholly 
unknown. So little is known in Wall street, that none of his per- 
sonal friends can tell how much money he had at that time. It 
may be remarked, however, that none of them have any definite 
notion of how much he has now. His first appearance in the 
street is said to have been as a " curb-stone broker," that is, a man 
.who deals in stocks listed on the Stock Exchange without having 
a seat, or doing business in that building. 

Mr. Gould, in his recent statement, related the profitable specu- 
lation which he made in Cleveland & Pittsburgh stock, which for 
a long time was in a very poor condition. He bought it and put 
his whole energies into the development of the business of the 
road, which almost immediately revived and earned dividends ; 
the stock went up to 120, when he sold out after his usual 
fashion, and soon found another good investment, which was no 
other than the Union Pacific. The incident which Mr. Gould 



JAY GOULD. 73 T 

now turned to his advantage was the death of a large stock- 
holder name.d Clark, which quite unexpectedly threw his shares 
upon the market. "About this time,'' says Mr. Gould, " the 
stock went away down to 15, but I continued to buy it up as fast 
as it was sold ; when, to the surprise of everybody, it rose rapidly, 
and before long was paying dividends." One secret of this mar- 
vellous advance was the narrator's development of the iron inter- 
est on the line of the road and its branches, but no sooner did 
other speculators perceive that Mr. Gould was making money 
where they had lost, than a great outcry was raised that " the 
Union Pacific was Jay Gould's road," scenting danger of some 
kind in that fact, though what the exact cause of the panic was 
it would be difficult to tell. However the excitement abated 
when the great financier disposed of his great block of stock, 
which was soon distributed among some thousands of smaller 
investors. 

How much Mr. Gould was worth when he went into Erie can 
be only a matter of conjecture ; but it is a part of the history of 
that eventful episode that the company soon owed him $4,000,000, 
and that he afterward got the money. It is not to be supposed 
that Mr. Gould sold out his Union Pacific to pacify the clamor of 
the disappointed. It was the result of a keen foresight that in- 
duced him on the 17th of February, 1879, to get rid of his 100,000 
shares of Union Pacific stock to a syndicate. The stock had been 
neglected for some weeks, and sales were rare at from 65 to 69. 
The common talk of the street indicated that there was no real 
demand for the stock, and that loans could not be effected on it at 
a higher valuation than $30 per share— the par value being J 100. 
It was currently reported that Mr. Gould held 190,000 shares. 
The sales opened on the morning mentioned at 69^, and by 
steady advances rose in a few moments to 78!. The new life so 
suddenly imparted to Union Pacific stock, and the ready sales 
made, even at the increased price, created great surprise on the 
Stock Exchange and in financial circles, and all kinds of rumors 



73 2 JAY GOULD. 

were circulated as to the real cause. The true cause, however, 
was found to be Mr. Gould's large sale previously mentioned. 

Mr. Gould's later ventures have been on the same gigantic 
scale, and with the same uniform success so far as the world 
knows anything of them. The purchase of several thousands of 
shares of Wabash at less than 5 was succeeded by the advance of 
the preferred stock to 80 and the common to 45. He also bought 
large quantities of Kansas and Texas at about 8 and increased its 
market value to 48. All through 1876-7-8 he was buying great 
quantities of low-priced stocks, and subsequently realizing profits 
which were simply tremendous. 

The hobby of Mr. Gould's life is the Western Union Telegraph 
Company. There is no doubt that he has devoted his best ener- 
gies to the successful management of that great corporation. He 
acquired control of it by bitterly opposing it. 

He went into the American Union Telegraph Company at its 
very foundation. He extended its wires to every city of note east 
of the Rocky Mountains and into the provinces, making a com- 
plete system as far as he went, and filling the service with men of 
experience. Before the line had been in working order twelve 
months it had become a formidable competitor to the Western 
Union. In the great rise of stocks in 1879 Western Union sold 
up to 1 1 6. Then Mr. Gould menaced that company openly for 
the first time. He displaced its wires from the Union Pacific to 
Baltimore and Ohio and other roads, and substituted the wires of 
his own company. In one month Western Union dropped from 
116 to 88. If the story that Mr. Gould was short 30,000 shares is 
true, he made $840,000 by the operation. Such a movement, 
however, would not have been in accordance with Mr. Gould's 
methods. He probably bought as much stock as he could when 
the price was low, and laid it away as a corner-stone for those in- 
creased possessions which afterward gave him the control of the 
Western Union Company. 

Mr. Gould's next move was to predict a war of rates between 



JAY GOULD. 73$ 

his line and the Western Union. The stock of the latter then 
went down to 95. Then he announced that he was to be taken 
into the Western Union directory and no war was to take place. 
Western Union went up to 104. When the day for the election 
of directors arrived no Gould appeared, and the stock went down 
a^ain on renewed rumors of wars. The stock of Mr. Gould's 
American Union line was listed on the Stock Exchange and became 
an active security. The Western Union directory became alarmed. 
Efforts were made to get Mr. Gould into the board. These were 
finally successful, and the result was that in January, 1882, the 
American Union line was bought in by the Western Union. At 
the present time the capital stock of the latter company amounts 
to $80,000,000, of which Mr. Gould owns $20,000,000. 

These comprise the principal operations in which Mr. Gould has 
been engaged since his life in Wall street began. In addition to 
these he is intimately connected with the foundation and building 
up of the Texas & Pacific, the Missouri Pacific, the Pacific Mail, 
and the elevated railways of New York. With regard to the lat- 
ter he has acted the part of a saviour in time of distress. His ar- 
rangements of the payment of dividends, and his substitution of 
Manhattan first and second preferred stock for stocks of the New 
York and Metropolitan companies, were a masterpiece of finan- 
ciering, 

There is one passage in Mr. Gould's life which must now be 
taken into consideration, and which is unpleasant because of the 
comments which have been freely made upon it. There is little 
doubt that Mr. Gould was once compelled to resort to extraordi- 
nary measures to save himself from ruin by the unfaithfulness of 
a friend. Envy and malice, which are constant attendants at the 
successful man's side, have found no difficulty in painting those 
dark hours in far blacker colors than they deserved. The true 
story of those days is here told with the belief that those who 
read will be able to judge with some degree of justice as to Mr. 
Gould's position. 



734 J AY G °ULD. 

The historic " Black Friday," when men were ruined by scores 
and fortunes mown down as if by the sweep of a scythe, was 
September 24, 1869. Jay Gould has been accused of being the 
central mover in the great combination of operations which pre- 
ceded this day, but a brief history of those movements will show 
that Mr. Gould was fighting to save himself. He fought like 
Napoleon, it is true, and swept others out of his way, but he 
fought to win — and he did win. The history of the events which 
led up to the great panic and which occurred during its existence, 
as given in one of the leading newspapers a few years ago, are as 
follows : 

"After the great suit of Erie vs. Vanderbilt, Mr. Gould was 
chosen president of the road, with James Fisk, Jr., as comptroller. 
During June, July, August and September, 1868, the capital stock 
had been increased by 235,000 shares, and stood at $57,766,300. 
The fresh issue was on the market and the price went down to 
44. It was determined by Messrs. Fisk, Daniel Drew and Gould 
to put the price lower. They, therefore, locked up greenbacks 
to the amount of $1,400,000. Drew, however, betrayed his part- 
ners. He was short of 70,000 shares, and to punish him the 
combination unlocked greenbacks and sent up the stock. Mr. 
Drew lost $1,500,000 by the movement. The price of the stock 
went up considerably further, and in order to protect himself Mr. 
Gould was obliged to get it down. To accomplish this he bought 
gold in company with the other members of his clique. Abel R. 
Corbin, acting for the Gould party, sounded the government as 
to its probable policy, and announced that it would not sell gold. 
The clique bought millions. In August, 1869, the price was 131. 
In September the clique bought $9,000,000, at 133^ to 134. On 
the morning of Wednesday, September 2 2d, it held several mil- 
lions more than there were in the city of New York, outside of 
the sub-treasury. The price was 141. The clique continued its 
operations, the details of which are not necessary, in order to 
force the ' shorts ' to cover, and the price continued to rise. 



JAY GOULD. 735 

During ' Black Friday' week gold went up to 165, and the grand 
crash came which involved the financial affairs of Wall street in 
confusion and brought ruin upon hundreds of individuals. It is 
said that while Albert Speyers, a German broker, who was working 
for the clique in the gold room, was bidding 160 for any number 
of millions in gold, Mr.- Gould was selling out that which he had 
already bought through a dozen different brokers. Thus he was 
preparing for the collapse which he knew must come. Perhaps 
this looks like something different from fair dealing, but it is only 
the usual method of Wall street. The morals of the Stock Ex- 
change are not those of the Puritans. Mr. Gould was working in 
Wall street and he had to use the methods of that street. Every 
man in the street was looking for an opportunity to treat Mr. 
Gould in precisely the same way; but here, as in other operations, 
the keenness of his perception, the vastness of his combination, 
the cool courage with which he ran risks involving scores of mil- 
lions of dollars, brought him out of the struggle a victor over the 
many who were striving to crush him. The price had been 
pushed up too far. Secretary Boutwell sent word that he would 
sell $4,000,000 to relieve the stringency of the market. The price 
fell more suddenly than it had risen, and utter confusion prevailed 
in Wall street. The ruin was hastened and made more complete 
by private interference. A broker from James Brown had pre- 
ceded Boutwell's orders by offering to sell millions at 160. When 
the despatch arrived, bringing real gold into the fight against 
the phantom gold, the pressure was too great and the ' bulls ' 
were routed — all but the wary man, and one, perhaps two, of his 
clique." 

Among the many firms which " went under " in the stress of 
those days were the following: Albert Speyers; Galway, Hunter 
& Co. ; William Belden & Co. ; Zuiga & Graves ; Chase, McClure 
& Co.; P. H. Williams, Jr., & Co.; Charles W. Keep & Co.; 
James W. Brown & Co. 

The general admission that in Wall street each man is for 



73^ JAY GOULD. 

himself, and the financial opponent of every other man, necessarily 
tends to cause the complaints of those who have been worsted in 
the struggle to be little heeded or commiserated ; yet we should 
expect to find now and then a ray of candor from even the most 
inveterate financier when a personal friend of less experience seeks 
to gather a hint from the former ; but if Mr. Joaquin Miller's in- 
terview with Mr. Gould is correctly reported, the poet was sadly 
deceived if he thought to get a "point" from his friend. This is 
the story : Mr. Miller had been watching Western Union in Wall 
street, and seeing the stock go down about 18 points, ventured 
to buy ioo shares; it fell again, and he bought another hundred, 
and still another, and so on till he reached the limits of his mar- 
gin. Then becoming intimidated, he thought he would step over 
and see Mr. Gould — "his friend." Telling his day's experience, 
he explained his purchases, when, to use his own words, "Mr. 
Gould looked at me with a sweet and innocent surprise, as much 
as to say, ' Only to think that a man would touch that worthless 
Western Union.' " 

"I'm so sorry you've bought this stuff; my telegraph is the 
other line," and he sighed. 

" I bought it because I thought it cheap. Will it be lower, Mr. 
Gould?" 

"Well," he answered, "we" (looking at his son George) 
" have not a share of it. It ought to be a good deal cheaper." 

" Then I shall sell twice the amount I hold and hedge. Thank 
you." 

" The next morning," adds Mr. Miller, " I did sell ; sold right 
and left, for the whole bottom seemed to be dropping out of 
Western Union. It kept on tumbling, and by noon I was even. 
By one o'clock I was almost rich — richer than I had ever been 
before. / remained a rich man about thirty- five minutes ! Then the 
tide began to set against me. Western Union bounded up with 
a rapidity that dazzled me, and by the time the hammer fell in 
the Stock Board I literallv had not a car-fare left." Mr. Miller 



JAY GOULD. j ^7 

affirms that at the very time described above " Mr. Gould had 
about 200 shares, and was picking it up as fast as he could knock 
it down." Comment is unnecessary. 

One operation of Mr. Gould's, beyond all others, has interested 
and excited the public mind, and that is the attempt to buy up 
successive newspapers so as to get control of the Associated Press; 
previous to this movement the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany, under the instigation of Mr. Gould, had entered into a con- 
tract with the four combined trans-Atlantic cable companies, in 
which was a clause that "w/ienever the messages contained anything 
affecting the Western Union Company, in any way, it zvould be the 
privilege of that company to inspect the7n" and as all foreign mes- 
sages were to be sent direct to the Western Union main office, 
this was in effect Jo give the right of inspection of all cable mes- 
sages to the officers of Jay Gould ; for, how could it be known 
what would affect the Western Union, unless all were examined? 
This was a tremendous power to be put into the hands of one man. 
Some months after the conclusion of this contract, Mr. John 
Pender, M. P., President of the Direct Cable and of the " Globe 
Telegraph " and " Trust Companies," of London, visited New 
York to endeavor to procure a modification of the existing con- 
tract. Not specially the above clause, but for the right to receive 
messages from other sources than through the Western Union, 
to which they were restricted. Of course, he failed in his mis- 
sion. 

In connection with this peculiar arrangement for securing the 
first perusal of commercial correspondence through the Atlantic 
cables, was the effort made to buy up a controlling interest in the 
Associated Press Company. This association consists of the seven 
leading newspapers of New York city, namely, the Herald, World, 
Times, Tribune, Express, journal of Commerce, and the Sun. For 
some time it had been generally understood that the Tribune and 
World had succumbed to the influence of Mr. Gould's millions, 
and later the Express was bought up without reserve. Consider 
47 



73^ J AY GOULD. 

now the vast influence which this colossal combination was capable 
of exerting. Four trans-Atlantic cables! a net-work of telegraph 
lines over the whole country, and the control of three-fourths of 
the Associated Press ! No wonder that some alarm was expe- 
rienced, when brokers, merchants, and manufacturers reflected, 
that if this absorption went on a few degrees further, that the 
whole country would be dependent upon one man for the color 
and character of the news it should receive. Fortunately there 
were papers not to be bought, and one of these, at least, rich 
enough to withstand all the fascinations of the great financier's 
gold ; able also to procure the laying of an independent cable, if 
its proprietor saw fit. But the very project shows the audacity of 
the ambitious mind, which grows with what it feeds upon, until no 
bounds are recognized within the pale of the possible. 

The present wealth of Mr. Gould has been variously estimated. 
It is common to overestimate the wealth of men of moderate for- 
tune, and to underestimate that of the great millionaires, because 
as great a show can be made by a man who has ten millions as by 
one who has fifty. It has been said by many newspapers that Mr. 
William H. Vanderbilt's fortune amounts to $100,000,000, but 
persons who are more intimately acquainted with his resources 
place the amount at three times that figure. Mr. Gould's wealth 
has been estimated at from ten to seventy-five millions. That the 
first estimate is absurd is at once shown when we remember he 
was worth that and more in 1873, and his twenty millions of 
Western Union stock speaks for itself. That the last is probably 
too small can be easily proved. In the beginning of 1882 Mr. 
Gould was accused by the rumor-mongers of Wall street with 
selling out enormous quantities of his stocks. He therefore called 
together a number of prominent operators, including Russell 
Sage, Cyrus Field, Judge Dillon, and others, and openly exhibited 
to them not only the record of his stock possessions, but the cer- 
tificates of the stocks. To their great astonishment, they found 
stocks to the amount of $50,000,000 tied up in bundles, the dates 



JAY GOULD. 739 

of Mr. Gould's purchases showing that they had been in his pos- 
session and never out of it for several years. His bonds were not 
shown, but he offered, if the gentlemen desired it, to produce " a 
couple of carriage loads." This exhibition was succeeded by a 
powerful bull movement which, if Mr. Vanderbilt had adhered to 
the programme agreed upon by him and Mr. Gould, would have 
been one of the most remarkable in the history of Wall street. 
Now, if Mr. Gould owned all those stocks and bonds at that time, 
he must certainly have had some money in bank ; he has been 
known to draw and have cashed a check for $2,000,000. If he 
owned fifty millions in stocks, it is probable that his possessions 
in bonds were as large; and we may reasonably suppose that Mr. 
Gould's fortune amounts to $100,000,000. 



CHARLES GOODYEAR. 

Mr. Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcanized rubber, is a speci- 
men of that unfortunate class of inventors who only come within 
reach of their fortunes just as death is reaching for them. Few 
persons who have benefited the world so much have suffered 
more in the preliminary stages than did this man, who was born 
in New Haven, Connecticut, on December 29th, 1800. When 
quite young his family removed to Philadelphia, where his father 
and brothers engaged in the hardware business and in which he 
became a partner; but in 1836 this firm failed, and Charles, who 
had become much interested in the India rubber business, turned 
his attention in that direction. He had already made some improve- 
ment in an India rubber life-preserving apparatus, and hoping to 
sell it, went to New York, there offering it to the agent of the 
Roxbury India Rubber Company. Instead of buying the improve- 
ment, this agent informed Mr. Goodyear of the many defects of 
the rubber being manufactured, and of the necessity for certain 
improvements which would secure the permanent elasticity of the 
articles manufactured but render them insensible to the effects 
of heat and cold. Up to this time the rubber shoes, for instance, 
were not only shapeless, heavy and unsightly, but became so stiff 
with cold as to be unusable, and when exposed to the fire were in 
danger of melting ; the garments produced cracked in winter and 
became sticky in summer, besides giving out an odor not sug- 
gestive of " Araby the blest." Mr. Goodyear took in the situation, 
and became convinced that he was the man to make the needed 
discoveries. He immediately commenced experimenting; the 
first batch of shoes which he made in the fall and early winter he 
put away to test their surviving through summer's heat, as he did 
(74o) 



CHARLES GOODYEAR. 74 1 

not wish to put a defective article on the market ; his doubts were 
confirmed as to their durability, the first warm weather reducing 
them to a useless, offensive mass. He had received some assist- 
ance from a friend ; but he now withdrew his aid. Mr. Goodyear 
was in very poor health ; but he had no idea of giving up the 
search for a perfect compound. 

An old acquaintance gave him the use of a room in Gold street 
for a laboratory, and another let him have chemicals on credit, and 
he succeeded in producing smooth elastic sheets, for which he 
received a medal at the Fair of the American Institute, in 1835. 
He was praised by the newspapers, and actually sold all he could 
make, but he discovered that a single drop of acid of vinegar, 
lemon juice or even that from a sour apple would reduce the sub- 
stance to its original stickiness. He was not content with and 
would not continue the manufacture of so imperfect an article. 
This " cured, " as he called it, he now began to experiment anew 
upon; and having such imperfect resources for grinding materials 
was obliged to carry in a jar on his shoulder the quick-lime which 
he used, three miles. At last accident revealed one fact to him : 
while bronzing a piece of rubber cloth, he applied aqua fortis to a 
portion of it, to remove the bronze from a certain portion ; it not 
only did that, but it discolored the cloth to such an extent that 
Mr. Goodyear threw it away as useless. Noticing a few days after, 
he found its character completely changed ; it would now bear a 
degree of heat such as would previously have melted it; as aqua 
fortis is two-fifths sulphuric acid, it was plainly a great step towards 
final success. Mr. Goodyear following up this discovery ob- 
tained a patent " for curing India rubber with aqua fortis," and 
opened a store for the sale of his goods on Broadway. Then an 
accident in his laboratory nearly cost him his life, and before he 
recovered from his injuries, his friend and silent partner failed, and 
he was left utterly without resources. The Roxbury Rubber Com- 
pany had failed; but in September, 1836, Mr. Chaffee, who had 
been at that concern, allowed Mr. Goodyear to use the buildings 



742 CHARLES GOODYEAR. 

and abandoned works for further experiments. For a while the 
clouds were lifted ; he made and sold several thousand dollars 
worth of goods ; but getting a government contract for a large 
quantity of mail bags, which he made and delivered in apparent 
good order, at the end of a few weeks they had become so soft 
as to be useless. By this he learned that aqua fortis would cure 
only very thin goods ; and the report of this failure with the bags 
destroyed the sale of his other goods. His effects were sold for 
debt and he was again in the deepest poverty. 

Through the foreman of the old Roxbury works, Mr. Hayward, 
he learned that the use of sulphur hardened the gum ; that it was, 
in fact, the great master power over rubber ; but yet the precise 
way of using it was a mystery. One day he dropped a piece of 
sulphur-cured leather on the stove, which was red hot; he ex- 
pected to see it melted by the heat, but, no, it shrivelled like leather, 
instead of melting. Thus he learned that sulphur-cured leather 
must be treated to heat to destroy its soft, sticky nature ; but what 
degree of heat he had yet to learn. Years of experiments fol- 
lowed ; the pockets and patience of his friends were exhausted, 
his health suffered, his family nearly starved. But here comes in a 
noble trait of the man : a French firm sent, while he was in the 
deepest distress, offering to buy, at a large sum, his system of 
curing rubber with aqua fortis; and despite the entreaties of his 
friends he had the honesty to refuse — telling them that he was on 
die verge of an improvement which would be sure to render 
goods cured by' aqua fortis unsalable. 

People who had hitherto helped him now called him crazy; 
but he persevered, and in 1844 produced perfectly vulcanized 
rubber goods. He obtained the grand medal at the Paris Expo- 
sition, and was presented with the ribbon of the Legion of Honor 
by Napoleon III. But he was worn out with the long struggle ; 
his rights for the United States alone were sold for millions of 
dollars, but it was too late for him to enjoy the wealth that had 
come so late. He died in New York, in July, i860. 



EDWARD CLARK. 

Edward Clark is best known in the community as the Presi- 
dent of the " Singer Manufacturing Company," and a late partner 
of Isaac M. Singer, though this position was by no means the limit 
of his business activity or usefulness in society. While practising 
law in New York, the firm-name being Jordan & Clark, there 
entered the office one day a person named J. Thomas Jones, now 
manager of the Singer's business company in Utica, and the same 
man who built the first Singer machine, in 1850. This person laid 
before Mr. Clark the points in the Singer claim, but neither he 
nor Singer had then the means to establish their priority of inven- 
tion, contested as it was by Elias Howe, Jr., and also by others, 
who were suing Mr. Singer for infringement of their patents. In 
the course of the examination of the papers and drawings pre- 
sented by Mr. Jones, Mr. Clark became much interested in the 
machines themselves ; he appeared to see, as with a prophetic eye, 
the revolution which this mechanical agent for the performance of 
woman's work was destined to make in society ; only, like the 
inventors themselves, and many other persons, he slightly mistook 
the nature of the change which these machines would produce. 
He figured to himself the laborious style of work, which kept the 
mother of a family "stitch, stitch, stitching," for weary hours, to keep 
her little ones decently clothed, and which never-ceasing employ- 
ment with the needle really almost precluded her from the pursuit 
of any form of intellectual culture, and Mr. Clark estimating the 
rapidity with which the same amount of work could be accom- 
plished by machinery, he pictured to himself the increased refine- 
ment and intelligence which would result from the use of this 
leisure time saved from the slavery of the needle, and which would 

(743) 



744 EDWARD CLARK. 

be secured to the coming generation of young women through the 
use of these machines. Indeed, it seemed almost a work of be- 
nevolence, a humanitarian movement, to promote their construction 
and sale. That there was evidently money in it, too, did not de- 
tract from its interest. He had not overrated the change that 
sewing-machines were destined to produce, but he and others 
greatly underestimated the extent to which this great facility of 
accomplishment would be turned to the gratification of vanity ; the 
amplification of ornament, and the endless production of elaborate 
trimmines. Leisure has not resulted to woman from the use of 
sewing-machines. The "great revolution" has resolved itself into 
greater elegance and variety of costume, and the absolute annihil- 
ation of everything rustic or old-fashioned in woman's attire, 
wherever these machines have penetrated. 

A member of the original Singer Company named Zeber, who 
had become discouraged with the obstacles which impeded the 
progress of the invention, and especially with the tedious litigation 
threatened, was anxious to sell out his share, which Mr. Clark 
readily bought. From this time forward the interests of the Singer 
Manufacturing Company and those of Mr. Edward Clark were 
one and identical. He had greatly assisted Mr. Singer over his law 
troubles, not only with advice but with money, and eventually en- 
tered into partnership with him under the firm-name of " I. M. 
Singer & Co." This partnership continued until 1863, when both 
partners retired from the active management of the business, and 
the Singer Manufacturing Company was formed, of which both the 
partners became directors. 

Mr. Clark had scarcely begun to accumulate money above a com- 
petency, than he began to give away in proportion to his increase. 
He was an Episcopalian in faith, and for many years in succession 
he contributed largely to Episcopalian Home Missions, whose oper- 
ations were chiefly carried on in the West. To his Alma Mater, 
Williams College, of Massachusetts, he made the handsome gift of 
a Museum building, a costly stone structure known as "Clark Hall," 



EDWARD CLARK. 745 

adding various other gifts at intervals, as the ascertained needs of 
the college were presented to him, or as he sought them out ; to 
which the Faculty responded by conferring upon him the degree 
of LL. D. He was the principal contributor to the erection of the 
Episcopalian church at Centreville, Passaic county, New Jersey. 
Among other large buildings which he put up was the " Hotel 
Fennimore," at Cooperstown,' which was something he said that 
should be worthy of the pioneer novelist of America, who had 
hitherto been represented by an old-fashioned country inn. For 
this same Cooperstown (his summer home) he had almost the 
same affection as for the place of his birth, and when there was a 
question of introducing water into the town, and the people felt too 
poor to appropriate the necessary funds, this beneficent Crcesus 
volunteered to loan them the money, with a practically unlimited 
time in which to repay it. 

Mr. Clark had married in early life the daughter of his old 
law-partner, Mr. Jordan ; she died several years ago, and of this 
marriage an only son, Albert C. Clark, survives. His private 
charities were very large and widely distributed, and it does not 
seem that great wealth could be placed in better hands. He died 
in 1882, leaving an estate valued at $25,000,000. 



JOHN W. GARRETT. 

There are few men living who have done more for the material 
advancement of their natal city than John W. Garrett of Balti- 
more. Unlike so many of the wealthy men of this era he was 
not a poor boy ; it was not his fate to work on a sterile farm, to 
acquire a limited education by stealth, and to delve through his 
youth and early manhood in depressing labor for poor pay, with 
little promise of a better future. Mr. Robert Garrett, his father, 
was one of the richest and most enterprising merchants of Balti- 
more, when his second son, John W., was born, on the 31st of July, 
1820. With ample means to secure the boy every comfort, and 
even luxury, his education was carefully attended to, and after 
studying at the preparatory schools of his native city he completed 
his education at Lafayette College; Pennsylvania. 

When nineteen years of age he was taken into the business 
firm, consisting of his father and his elder brother Henry: the 
firm-name being " Robert Garrett & Sons." The business of the 
elder Garrett had already reached very wide limits ; his foreign 
trade was large, and he had very extensive connections with the 
western country ; and it was through observing the difficulties of 
transport from the seaboard to the interior, and especially beyond 
the Allegheny Mountains, that first attracted Mr. Garrett's atten- 
tion to improved modes of conveyance for freight. For years 
after the establishment of the mercantile firm of Robert Garrett 
& Co., the only method of conveying goods over the laborious 
mountain roads was in those strong and capacious, but slow and 
unwieldly, " Conestoga wagons." 

It may be surmised with what pleasure the first attempts to in- 
troduce a more expeditious system were watched by this enterpris- 
(746) 




JOHN" W. GARRETT. 



JOHN W. GARRETT. jaj 

ing firm when it was first proposed to build a railroad, with its 
southern terminus in Baltimore, with the distant hope of extending 
it to the Ohio. The difficulties to be overcome on this route were 
very great, on account of the steep grades and the sharp curves 
which were necessary even in the first two miles outside of the 
city. And even after the road was partially built the promoters 
of it feared that no engine could be built which would over- 
come these difficulties, and horses were used to draw the cars for 
some time ; but at the moment of their deepest depression there 
happened to be in Baltimore a citizen of New York, who had 
great faith in the road. He built the engine, attached it to an open 
car, invited the directors to accompany him, acted as engineer 
himself, and safely made a trip of thirteen miles and back, on 
which were some sharp curves and high grades, and thus demon- 
strated the complete feasibility of operating the road successfully. 
That man was Peter Cooper, and this trip was made on August 
28, 1830.* Previous to the inauguration of this road there had 
been none built in the United States, except a short strip from 
Quincy, Massachusetts, to Boston, for the purpose of bringing 
stone from the former place to build the Bunker Hill Monument 
— this was used in 1827. 

On July 4, 1828, the corner stone of the Baltimore & Ohio 
was laid with impressive ceremonies by Charles Carroll, of Car- 
rollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. This was the first road opened for general freight and 
passenger traffic in the United States. The Garretts, father and' 
sons, were large stockholders in the pioneer railroad, which prom- 
ised such enlarged facilities for their business, when placed upon 
a firm and reliable basis ; but it advanced slowly, and for the first 
twenty years of its existence was ever struggling with financial 
difficulties, and it was not until 1853 that the company's rails 
reached the grand point of their expectation — the Ohio river, at 
Wheeling, a distance, which now seems almost trivial, of three 

* See sketch of Peter Cooper. 



748 JOHN W. GARRETT. 

hundred and seventy-nine miles. But this passed through a rich 
mineral and agricultural country, and proved more remunerative 
than even its projectors had dared to hope ; but still the manage- 
ment was not of the best, and a few years later, about 1857, Mr. 
John W. Garrett began to take a more active interest in its affairs. 
His suggestions and counsels appeared to be so wise and far-see- 
ing that he was in 1858 chosen President, and from that time for- 
ward the prospects of the road began to brighten : hitherto the 
great lack had been the want of sufficient capital, but this impe- 
cunious state was soon to be changed into prosperity. 

No sooner had Mr. Garrett got the reins into his own hands 
than he began a system of branch extensions : tapping here and 
there manufacturing and agricultural districts, which immediately 
became profitable freight patrons of the road. He had naturally 
large administrative abilities, and thoroughness in every depart- 
ment soon became the order of the day. He began by a careful 
examination of the Condition of the road, closely observing its 
capabilities ; and one of the first branches built was that to Pitts- 
burg, the trade of which was thus brought to Baltimore. This 
enterprise soon led him, as other roads were built, to lease such as 
would benefit his own, where this was practicable, and where not, 
to enter into such amicable relations with other companies as 
would tend to their mutual benefit. From the moment of his 
presidency the Baltimore & Ohio road took an onward bound 
of prosperity which it still maintains. 

One of the great points appreciated by Mr. Garrett, in his esti- 
mate of the advantages of the Baltimore terminus, was the fact 
that from any part of the west, southwest, or northeast, tide-water 
could be reached much quicker than by any other route lying 
north of it. Thus from Chicago to New York, via the New York 
Central Railroad, is 980 miles ; by the Erie road it is 961 ; by the 
Pennsylvania Railroad it is 899 ; by the Baltimore & Ohio it is 
only 815 miles to Baltimore; the latter port being nearer to Chi- 
cago by one hundred and thirty-two miles than New York. From 



JOHN W. GARRETT. 749 

other points in the west a similar or greater saving of distance is 
made. Conceiving from these facts that western freight ought 
naturally to gravitate to Baltimore rather than to any other Atlan- 
tic port, Mr. Garrett caused a marine depot to be established at 
Locust Point, on the northwest branch of the Patapsco river, which 
is the head of tide-water in that direction, and has the advantage 
of being opposite the great " Canton District " of the city, where 
some thirty leading industries are followed on a large scale ; and 
to this great manufacturing district Mr. Garrett established ferry 
communication with boats having rails laid for the freight cars, 
which could thus be loaded and run on the main road without 
transfer of goods, after once loading, to any point on the Bal- 
timore & Ohio road. Not only this, but he erected at Locust 
Point immense grain-elevators for the use of the export trade, 
built piers for the accommodation of foreign vessels, and after the 
close of the war in 1865 started a line of steamers to Liverpool ; 
but trade had not sufficiently sought this direction at that time, 
and the first essay was not a great success ; but as the combina- 
tions of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad were extended, and 
freight for exportation came forward in greater abundance, another 
and completely successful line of steamers was inaugurated. This 
was the North German Loyds to Bremen via Southampton, and 
was arranged for the bringing of emigrants as well as freight. 
These proved so profitable that it induced the establishment of 
another line — the Allen, making the ocean voyage via Halifax. 

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which is so intimately con- 
nected with the last thirty years of Mr. Garrett's life, that to men- 
tion the one immediately suggests the other, holds a peculiar posi- 
tion in the history of railroads in this country ; being largely 
owned by the city of Baltimore, which is the largest stockholder 
in the company, which originally owned stock to the value of 
$3,250,000, which pays ten per cent, and as the city pays on her 
loan, caused by this investment, only six per cent., she annually 
makes $130,000, which is so much saved to the tax- payers of the 



75° JOHN W. GARRETT. 

city. Baltimore now owns over $5,000,000 of stock. The interests 
of the city and the railroad are such that nothing can benefit the 
one without a sympathetic effect upon the other. Hence, there has 
been on the part of the city no grudging of facilities for the expand- 
ing business of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. At Locust Point 
the railroad company occupies three thousand six hundred feet of 
water-front ; and in the western part of the city, at Mount Clair, are 
the great work-shops, where everything called for in the construction 
or equipment of a railroad is made, from iron bridges and locomo- 
tives to the smallest article of decoration or use. Sixteen hun- 
dred hands are employed in the works at Mount Clair. 

Baltimore has had not a few citizens who have enthusiastically 
worked for her advancement, especially aiming to make the beau- 
tiful city, at the head of Chesapeake Bay, a grand commercial cen- 
tre, but among them all there has been no more devoted son than 
John W. Garrett. Under his direction there is not a rail laid or a 
spike driven, or a dollar invested anywhere between the seaboard 
and St. Louis which is not designed to react on Baltimore, and to 
push that enterprising place a few steps higher in the scale of At- 
lantic sea-ports. Among the many improvements introduced in 
the management of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, under the 
Presidency of Mr. Garrett, has been the policy of establishing, 
under the auspices of the company, good hotels at various points 
on the road, these being supervised by persons in the employ of 
the directors ; and in these travellers may expect good accommoda- 
tions, the object of their establishment being to induce travel over 
this road in preference to others. Another very excellent plan of 
securing faithfulness on the part of certain classes of employes 
is the giving, at designated intervals, of a money premium to such 
as are found, on inspection, to have their special department in the 
most effective condition. This includes all officers having the over- 
sight of the machinery and transportation, the condition of the 
tracks, and all those parts of this great whole on which depend the 
safety of passengers, and the order and speed of conveyance 
either of persons or freight. 



JOHN W. GARRETT, 751 

In 1877 an express company was organized, and an express 
messenger sent out with every train, a great advantage to the 
patrons of the road. Superior, however, to any other of the many 
advantages which have grown out of the ambition of President 
Garrett to make his railroad system the peer of any other in the 
country, was his proposition to establish, in connection with it, a 
perfect telegraph system for its whole length. Mr. Garrett stated 
in June, 1882, that the success of the Baltimore & Ohio Telegraph 
Company had attracted much favorable comment, and, as an in- 
stance, said, that over the direct line, from the Board of Trade in 
Chicago to the Corn and Flour Exchange of Baltimore, " transac- 
tions had been made and orders executed and recorded within 
three minutes ; and that over their lines between Cincinnati and 
St. Louis similar rapid work had been accomplished. " In fact, 
such had been the growth of this telegraph adjunct to the Balti- 
more & Ohio Railroad that on many of its lines in 1882 they were 
operating sixteen wires, with a prospect of having to enlarge their 
plant. 

President Garrett has done much for the city of Baltimore and 
for its western connections ; he has also done amazingly well for 
himself; but in all his business enthusiasm and personal ambition, 
he has not forgotten those humbler sons of toil, without whose 
muscle and brains his far-seeing visions could not have been made 
realities. Desiring to do something for the mental culture and 
entertainment of his many employes and workmen at Mount 
Clair, a reading-room was established in December, 1869; this 
was furnished with newspapers, magazines, and about a thousand 
bound volumes. Though many of those for whom it was intended 
availed themselves of these advantages, it was observed that a 
considerable number of the men never entered the building. Dis- 
cussing this matter with a friend, Professor Newell Martin, the 
decision was arrived at that something of a more social nature was 
needed to rouse some natures to any intellectual exertion what- 
ever. When Professor Martin suggested that lectures had proved 



75 2 JOHN W. GARRETT. 

very attractive to working-men in England, Mr. Garrett cordially 
responded to this suggestion and held himself ready to forward it 
in any way that was needed. The result of this conference was 
that a course of lectures was organized for the month of February, 
1882 ; President Garrett announcing in a circular addressed to the 
" Employes of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company," that a 
course of free lectures would be given in Hollin's Hall, and that 
the wives and daughters of employes were also free to attend 
them. That President Garrett did not underrate the mental cali- 
bre of his workmen may be judged from the choice made of lec- 
turers and subjects. The first given was by Professor Martin, of 
Johns Hopkins University, on the anatomical subject of " How 
Skulls and Backbones are Built." The second was by Dr. Henry 
Sewell, on " How We Move ; " the third by Dr. Sedgewick, on 
"Formation;" and another by Dr. Brooks, on "Some Curious 
Kinds of Animal Locomotion;" all scientific subjects. President 
Garrett interested himself so much in this matter as to be present 
on each occasion and introduced the lecturers. At the close of the 
series, on motion of Mr. Conway, the foreman of the company's 
foundry at Mount Clair, a resolution of thanks was passed both to 
President Garrett and the lecturers, by the delighted and grateful 
audience. In response, Mr. Garrett stated that he hoped in other 
seasons to have a similar course on other subjects, and that here- 
after arrangements for such may be regarded as a feature con- 
nected with the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Com- 
pany. Subsequently President Garrett published these lectures in 
a brochure, and distributed these gratuitously among the workmen. 
Mr. Garrett is not one of those persons who think material suc- 
cess and prosperity the whole of life. He has the true interests 
of Baltimore at heart, and is as ready to promote its moral cul- 
ture as its secular progress. Among other institutions which he 
has favored with his influence and largely aided with his money 
is the Young Men's Christian Association, which was founded in 
1853. On the occasion of the thirteenth anniversary of the asso- 



JOHN W. GARRETT. 753 

ciation he addressed them, stating some facts which incidentally 
show his own share in the progress they had made. In 1870 he 
had assisted in raising a fund of $237,000 for the erection of the 
elegant building they now occupy. It was on this occasion that 
he stated that he had undertaken to get a good round subscrip- 
tion towards the object from his friend, Johns Hopkins. But it 
so happened that on the very day on which he was to present the 
subject to him the two friends were present at a meeting of the 
Baltimore Copper Company, of which both were large stock- 
holders ; at this meeting losses were reported, of which about six 
hundred thousand dollars must be shared between Mr. Garrett 
and Mr. Hopkins. This fact, however, did not prevent Mr. Gar- 
rett from brincrincr before his friend the claims of the Young- Men's 
Christian Association. Mr. Hopkins did not bear the loss of money 
with absolute equanimity, and, naturally enough, said: "That with 
the recent large loss which had befallen him he did not think it 
a proper time to consider the subject." But Mr. Garrett having 
made his own subscription finally persuaded Mr. Hopkins to put 
his name down for $10,000, leaving space for the latter's name at 
the head of the list, and with these two subscriptions to start with, 
the final success of the project was assured. 

But whatever Mr. Garrett may have done in other directions 
it is undoubtedly as the active, enterprising head of the grand 
railroad system of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad that his name 
will be longest remembered in the city of his birth ; so many and 
widely extended interests have grown out of this, the commerce 
and general prosperity of Baltimore have been so largely in- 
creased by it, that one can scarcely walk in any part of the city 
without coming* across some evidence of the beneficial stimulus 
growing out of Mr. Garrett's progressive views. He takes great 
pride in the fact that the railroad company of which he is president 
has issued no watered stock, and pays no interest on any hypothe- 
cated bonds ; everything is genuine and on a sound basis, having 
for a long time paid semi-annual dividends of five per cent. The 
48 



754 JOHN W. GARRETT. 

Fifty-seventh Annual Report shows a high degree of prosperity. 
From the main stem and its branches for the year ending Octo- 
ber i, 1883, was received a revenue of $19,739,837.93; an increase 
of nearly $1,400,000 as compared with the preceding year, and 
an increase of over $5,500,000 over 1879. The surplus fund 
amounts to $45,763,479.89, which sum is not represented by either 
bonds or stock. The earnings in 1883, over expenses, were $5,432,- 
183.45. Very heavy losses were incurred by the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad during the effort of that company to put the Marietta 
& Cincinnati Railroad on a good financial basis; but this road, 
acting as a feeder to the Baltimore & Ohio, is now fully compen- 
sating for the outlay ; the advantage arising principally from the 
fact that in that section western shippers can get their freight to 
Baltimore over a line of but five hundred and seventy-nine miles ; 
while, if sending to New York by the Central, they must pay rates 
for eight hundred and sixty miles. On this point Mr. Garrett 
had something of a controversy with his great railroad rival, Wil- 
liam H. Vanderbilt, in 1881, and in a pamphlet, entitled, "Reply 
of John W. Garrett, President of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 
Company, to William H. Vanderbilt, President of the New York 
Central & Hudson River Railroad Company," Mr. Garrett dis- 
cusses the ill-policy of cutting rates to injure other roads ; charges 
his rival with a wish to dominate the whole country; claims the 
right to carry freight even to New York (a point disputed by Mr. 
Vanderbilt), and shows that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Com- 
pany can operate its line cheaper than the Central, because " it 
runs a great portion of the distance through most valuable coal 
fields. While the New York Central is paying from three to 
five dollars a ton for its coal the Baltimore & Ohio can bring it 
right out of the pit and dump it into the car of the engine, at a 
cost possibly of eighty to ninety cents a ton. The advantage it 
has in fuel far overbalances any advantage the New York Central 
may have in grades." Mr. Garrett also claims the right to make 
rates correspond to geographical distances, which is not admitted 



JOHN W. GARRETT. 755 

by his rival. On this point he wisely says : " It is not the Balti- 
more & Ohio, or the Pennsylvania, or the New York, Lake Erie 
& Western, or the New York Central Railroad Company, but it 
is the interests of the vast populations connected with these lines, 
and the source of the commerce of the country, that are entitled 
to and will have the cost of transportation adjusted in proper rela- 
tion to distance." 

John W. Garrett has now been twenty-seven years at the head 
of this great railway system, and, as we have shown, he has a true 
and just appreciation of the duty he owes the public in a place 
of such responsibility. 

On the occasion of his recent re-election he said : " When I 
became your executive in 1858 the length of the road under 
your control was but 514 miles, and it had cost $32,000,000; 
now the properties owned and controlled by the Baltimore & 
Ohio Company aggregate 1,995 miles, and these have cost over 
$134,000,000. At the close of the first fiscal year of the present 
administration the total revenues were $4,301,000; for the last 
fiscal year they have been nearly $20,000,000 ; while, therefore, 
neither wishing nor intending to continue much longer in the im- 
portant position to which you have for so many successive years 
called me, yet, with strong desire to secure the interests with 
which we have been so long identified, I again accept the trust 
which you tender with so much cordiality and unanimity." 

In the beautiful suburb of Clifton, which lies upon high ground 
overlooking the city and bay, Mr. Garrett owns a very large 
tract of land, upon which is erected his elegant residence, nearly 
opposite to the old-fashioned mansion so long occupied by the 
deceased millionaire, Johns Hopkins. The whole region there- 
about is park-like, and a beautiful drive connects this section 
with the famous Druid Hill Park. Here Mr. Garrett dispenses 
a liberal hospitality. He is a patron of the fine arts ; is a di- 
rector of the Peabody Institute, and also of the Johns Hopkins 
University. 



BENJAMIN HOLLADAY. 

Benjamin Holladay, the wealthy express man, was originally a 
poor boy living in Western New York, but emigrating betimes to 
what was known forty years ago as the " Far West/' before Cali- 
fornia was thought of. He passed through many changes of loca- 
tion and occupation, as also some curious vicissitudes of fate, 
before he struck upon the line of business which was the starting- 
point of his prosperity. In his connection with the Overland 
Mail Express Company was laid the foundation of his fortune, 
and out of it has grown the claim which he has been prosecuting 
before Congress for the last seventeen years, and as it is not yet 
finally adjusted it may be of interest to trace its course since 1866, 
when his first petition was presented. The Congress of that year 
refused to make good the claim, which was for over $500,000. 
Realizing that there is nothing which a Congressman loathes so 
much as a State claim, Mr. Holladay very shrewdly withdrew all 
his papers, and the claim was not heard of again in Washington 
until 1872. This was a masterly stroke of policy; in the interim 
new members were elected, and what was of more consequence 
he was enabled at the same time to collect additional testimony in 
support of his claim, so that when he again appealed to Congress 
he had all the advantage of entering de novo, and armed with the 
knowledge of the kind of objections he would have to meet, and 
was thus every way better prepared than on his first attack. 
Probably no claim has ever been more thoroughly lobbied than this. 
Three years ago, after a long and exhaustive discussion of the whole 
subject, the Senate voted to reduce the bill reported from the Com- 
mittee on Claims, which recommended that he should receive 
$5 2 6>739> to $100,000. The House of Representatives did worse; 
(756) 



BENJAMIN HOLLADAY. 757 

it was left uncalled on the calendar. In 1880 the committee re- 
ported in favor of allowing Mr. Holladay #321,154, or $200,000 less 
than they had formerly done ; on what principle this reduction was 
made they did not condescend to explain, although the same gen- 
tleman occupied the position of chairman on both occasions. 
Under debate a motion was made to reduce the allowance to 
$100,000; but this was lost and the bill went over. In January, 
1 88 1, the Senate voted once more for the payment of $100,000, 
and consequently his friends allowed the bill to drop. In January, 
1883, the Senate voted to sustain the motion of reduction, but no 
final decision was reached. 

Mr. Holladay has been largely interested in the railway system 
of Oregon, and in other roads in the Northwest, and when he found 
the " thousands " beginning to accumulate, he invested largely in 
real estate in various locations ; but none of these have ever had 
such a curious record as the place which he bought for a home- 
stead years ago, and which, if all the history of it was written out, 
might form the basis of a very attractive novel, or, perhaps, 
tragedy. It was in 1870 that Holladay bought a large tract of 
land in Westchester county, New York, which he called " Ophir 
Farm ; " how he came to select this classical name is not clear ; 
whether he thought the soil was so rich that it might truly be com- 
pared to the " land of Ophir, where there is much gold," or 
through pleasant remembrances of the famous Ophir mine, or of 
the fortunate winner of certain stakes on the turf, is uncertain ; 
but at least it has had a curious history, rich in reminiscences and 
lawsuits. The farm lies between Harrison's and West Plains, and 
a large portion of it may be seen from the highway ; it is undu- 
lating land, with large level spaces, and with the exception of a few 
groves is only timbered near the public road ; there are some 
farm-houses upon it, but the notable point which attracts the eye 
of every passer is the gloomy colossal mansion which stands on 
an elevation in the centre of a wide plain. On this house Mr. 
Holladay spent over $1,000,000, and for many years it has been 



75$ BENJAMIN HOLLADAY. 

one of the wonder-points to the inhabitants along the shore of the 
Long Island Sound, and the vicinity of Rye and White Plains. 

Mr. Holladay's estate consisted of seven hundred acres, and the 
remarkable house built upon it was erected in 1870-71. It is a 
square, one hundred and thirty feet on each side, with several 
wings or annexes. On one side is a balcony and a colossal porch. 
The general style of architecture is English : the material is a 
dark gray granite, which gives it a decidedly severe appearance. 
Isolated as it is the general effect is very impressive, and if it was 
on a more rugged elevation would remind one of the home of a 
German Freiherr, or an English feudal baron. The prospect from 
it is most extensive and pleasing — extending from the sound to 
the Hudson river. At some little distance from the house stands 
a small but very beautiful white marble chapel which Mr. Holladay 
built expressly for his wife, who was a Roman Catholic, and who, 
while she lived, worshipped in it. 

This whole property has been in litigation for many years. 
When Mr. Holladay lived on the place it was usually known as 
the " Buffalo Farm," since the owner kept several of these animals 
on the grounds. For several years " Ophir Farm" was leased to 
Mr. Garrett Roach, son of the famous shipbuilder, who has re- 
cently bought it. The history of this farm is a curious one. In 
1 87 1 Mr. Holladay conveyed this property to his wife, upon the 
condition that she execute a will giving him back the property at 
her death. This she agreed to do, and actually made a will in ac- 
cordance with this agreement ; but before her death, which oc- 
curred in 1873, she made another will, bequeathing all her prop- 
erty to her children and to others. On this last will being pre- 
sented for probate by her heirs, the first will, with the written 
agreement annexed, was also submitted to the surrogate, who very 
justly decided that equity demanded the execution of the first will. 
On this decision Mr. Holladay mortgaged the property to the 
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York for the nominal 
sum of $10,000. 



BENJAMIN HOLLADAY. 759 

Naturally the heirs under the second will did not give up their 
claim without a struggle, and a course of litigation was com- 
menced, which has only been recently decided in favor of the in- 
surance company (by that confirming the surrogate's decision), 
who foreclosed their mortgage, and have sold the property to Mr. 
Roach for $125,000. 

Mr. Holladay had three children : a son, who is still living, and 
two daughters, both deceased. One of these married the Count 
de Pourtales, a member of one of the oldest families in France, 
who was for years an attache of the French Legation at Washing- 
ton : the other daughter also married a Frenchman, the Baron de 
Bussiere, whose father was a large and wealthy financier in Paris. 
Madame de Pourtales died suddenly in a sleeping-car, and the 
shock of the news of her death so overcame Mrs. Holladay that 
she survived her daughter only a short time. The Baroness 
Bussiere died a few years later at the New York hotel. These 
two women were both buried in the little chapel on Ophir Farm. 
A curious comment upon Mrs. Holladay's will was to the effect 
that one clause of it excluded from its benefits any descendants of 
hers who should marry a foreigner. 

The other investments of Mr. Holladay are of a more ordinary 
nature, and have no such romantic history as that of the " Ophir 
Farm/' 



DAVID M. COLTON. 

Another of the California railroad magnates was General 
David M. Colton. He made his fortune in hydraulic mining and 
went into Central Pacific when its fortunes were at a low ebb. He 
went in with Stanford and Crocker and shared all the advantages 
of the original projectors of that enterprise. As the head of the 
Contract and Finance Company, he completed the Central Pacific 
and built the Southern Pacific. He was a man of considerable 
force and ability, and his success financially was as remarkable as 
that of any of the bonanza kings. A San Francisco correspondent 
of the Chicago Tribune, in speaking of General Colton, said of him: 

" David M. Colton was a remarkable man, and his career was 
characteristic of him. He came here from Maine in 1851 a beard- 
less boy, and among those strong, turbulent spirits, the early 
Argonauts, was famous before his majority. He died at forty-six, 
and had then for over a quarter of a century been one of our 
leading and most notable citizens. Some of the authenticated 
incidents of his career are of as thrilling a character as anything 
in history or romance. 

" Leading citizens here who knew him then say that at nineteen he 
plainly bore the marks of character which distinguished him through 
life — the massive under-jaw ; the strong, firm lines of the mouth, 
denoting the iron resolution ; the piercing eye, flashing with courage ; 
the stout neck, set upon a frame of great strength, made him then, 
as all through life, a man to.be singled out and remarked in a mul- 
titude. Colton was a law-and-order man, and his cool and steady 
courage, his daring and determination, were the qualities which 
marked him for a peace officer. No sooner was he of legal age 
than the electors of the county, by almost unanimous vote, pro- 
(760) 



DAVID M. COLTON. 761 

moted him from the position of under sheriff to that of sheriff. 
The early sheriffs of California were remarkable men ; men of 
proved courage, coolness and determination — they had to be to 
fill the office or be chosen for it — and Colton was a representative 
sheriff. He was a man of influence, and power and wealth poured 
in upon him. He made a flying visit to the East to marry the 
girl of his college-day love, Miss Ellen M. White, daughter of Dr. 
Chauncey White, of Chicago. 

" Shortly after Colton's return with his bride occurred an inci- 
dent which admirably illustrates his character. A valuable water- 
right was claimed by a company and coveted by the individual 
miners of the camp. While it was in litigation a miner, disregard- 
ing the injunction of the court, cut the company's ditch and helped 
himself to the water. He was arrested and jailed for contempt 
of court. Popular sympathy was with him. The miners determined 
upon his release. Fifteen hundred of them assembled, fully armed, 
at the jail, and demanded the release of the prisoner. Colton was 
at the moment attending a church fair which his wife, with the few 
other women in camp, was conducting to assist the only religious 
society of the settlement. Some one rushed to him with news of 
the uprising, and, while the miners were still clamoring at the jail 
door for the release of the prisoner and threatening to take him 
out if he was not set free, Colton came running hatless towards 
them, his long red hair — he always wore it long, even when 
treasurer of the Central Pacific Railroad — streaming back from his 
beardless countenance. Cleaving his way through the mob by 
sheer impetus, he rushed up the steps, and, planting his back 
against the door, confronted the angry throng of desperate and 
armed miners. He commanded them in the name of law, order 
and authority to disperse peacefully. The response was a clamor- 
ous demand for the release of the prisoner. • Never,' said the young 
officer, calmly ; ' you can only take him over my dead body,' and he 
confronted them unflinchingly. The mob, momentarily confounded 
and cowed by his heroic mien, recoiled, but soon returned, swear- 



762 DAVID M. COLTON. 

ing that they would have the prisoner. ' Give up the prisoner ! ' 
shouted hundreds of them, pressing forwards threateningly. ' I'll 

die first,' responded the young sheriff. 'Then die, you fool !' 

cried the foremost rioter, leveling his pistol. The sheriff was too 
quick for him. His own weapon was out and discharged in a 
twinkling, and the leader of the mob was carried off disabled. In- 
stantly hundreds of weapons were drawn, and a volley was fired at 
the sheriff from every angle of attack. He stood undismayed, 
fronting the mob and returning their fire, throwing down one 
revolver as soon as emptied and drawing another. Strange to 
say, not a shot of all those fired struck him, but several of his 
assailants were wounded. 

" It was an unheard-of thing. A mob of 1,500 desperate, armed, 
and maddened men beaten off and discomfited by one officer, and 
he yet a youth. Passion was boiling in the hearts of the rioters, 
and they soon returned, raging, to the attack ; but in the meantime 
the conduct of the sheriff had inspired others with some of his 
spirit and raised him up supporters. The judge of the county, 
the clerk, and a few others, took their places with him at the 
jail door, and when the mob returned the battle was resumed on 
more even terms, and the defence was maintained till the rioters 
were beaten off. Colton received two wounds ; several of the mob 
were killed and more wounded, and the law was vindicated and 
took its course with the prisoner. The affair created a great stir 
all through the mines, and the young sheriff was the hero of the 
day. Governor Bigler, in recognition of his services for law and 
order, appointed him brigadier-general of militia of northern 
California." 

General Colton's was the first mansion built on the hill in San 
Francisco now occupied by several railroad magnates. It stands 
just over the brow of the hill, but commands a magnificent view 
of the bay and the amphitheatre of the foothills of the coast range 
which sweep around from the mouth of the Sacramento river 
almost to the entrance to the Golden Gate. It is severely simple 



DAVID M. COLTON. 763 

in style, and affords the greatest contrast to the gaudily orna- 
mented palaces near by. It is built like a Grecian temple, with 
nothing to detract from the superb harmony and measure of its 
proportions. In comparison with the other buildings it is low, but 
its two stories give the impression of much greater height. 

The Corinthian pillars which form the window-frames, as well 
as the large pillars at the main doorway, add to the look of rich- 
ness and substantiality. It is always painted white, and is thus 
thrown into strong relief by the rich green of the lawn. The 
fence bears out the classical motive of the entire place ; it is 
higher than a man's head — the iron pickets being in the form of 
spears, and the posts of the Roman fasces. When these are 
painted black, with the spear-heads gilded, the effect is very 
beautiful. 

Mr. Colton's mausoleum is as fine as the magnificent home he 
once occupied. He died in 1878, and his widow erected in Moun- 
tain View Cemetery, in Oakland, just across the bay from San 
Francisco, a splendid tomb to his memory. It is a small Corin- 
thian chapel, of beautiful snowy white Ravaccioni marble, twenty 
feet square and thirty-five feet high, a close imitation, in all its 
classical details, of the mansion in which the widow now lives. It 
stands on an elevation, the highest ground in the cemetery, which 
brings out its noble proportions to great advantage. The tomb 
is exactly opposite the entrance to the Golden Gate, and can be 
seen from the late residence of Mr. Colton. It is said that Mrs. 
Colton has a strong field-glass and is fond of gazing over the 
water upon her husband's last resting-place. It is the finest tomb 
on the coast and cost $50,000. Through the bronze doors, which 
were cast in Munich, one enters the interior, paved with fine mo- 
saic and lighted up in rich but subdued colors by a large memorial 
window, the gift of the dead man's daughter. The tomb itself 
was the tribute of the widow, who has spared no expense in paying 
the last honor in her power to the memory of her husband. 



cyrus h. Mccormick. 

Among the numerous American inventors there is not one who 
has done more to extend the area of the intelligent culture of the 
soil, or who has added so greatly to the wealth of the country, as 
Cyrus H. McCormick. The immeasurable difference between the 
ancient emblem of the reaper — the simple sickle — and the won- 
derful machine that now makes the " great bonanza farms " possi- 
ble, typifies the immense progress of a full and free civilization 
over the half-savage hand-labor of the feudal ages. More fortu- 
nate than many authors, Mr. McCormick still lives to enjoy not 
only the fame but the solid rewards of his mechanical genius. 

Cyrus Hall McCormick is a native of Virginia, though for many 
years a resident of Chicago ; his ancestors were of that Scotch- 
Irish stock, which has sent forth so many able men, prosperous 
and thrifty workers in all the practical walks of life. Mr. Robert 
McCormick, the father of Cyrus, was also a native of Virginia, 
being born in Rockbridge in that. State, and his wife was a native 
of the neighboring county of Augusta ; her name was Mary Ann 
Hall, of the same original stock as the McCormicks ; both of these 
families were farmers in comfortable circumstances : Robert own- 
ing several farms with grist-mills and blacksmith and carpentering 
shops on his land, with every convenience, and machinery for 
farm-work which had then been invented. Their eldest son, 
Cyrus, was born on the 15th of February, 1809. At that time in 
Virginia the facilities for education were very limited ; there were 
no public schools, and, with the farming populations, private tutors 
were not in fashion ; but with bright, intelligent parents the boy 
learned enough to help himself by reading ; and later in life no 
marked deficiencies indicated the lack of early school-training. 
(764) 




C/RUS H. McCORMICK 



CYRUS H. M'CORMICK. 765 

He was not overworked as poorer boys often are on farms, but 
was taught to be industrious and careful, and he took a real inter- 
est in all the operations of the farm. His father had tried to make 
various improvements in agricultural implements, but had not suc- 
ceeded in bringing any to great financial profit. His son paid 
much attention to the best mode of performing all the manual 
labor on the place, and very early realized that there was great 
need of better agricultural ploughs, reapers, threshers, and so 
forth. When only fifteen he invented a grain-cradle, which he 
successfully used on the farm. Cyrus had evidently inherited his 
father's inventive genius ; the latter was the patentee of several 
valuable machines, though of none which attained so wide a 
celebrity as those of his son ; yet from these the latter obtained 
many hints which he utilized in his own machines. The elder 
McCormick had invented a threshing-machine, and one for hemp- 
breaking, using the hydraulic principle for his motor. 

Young Cyrus having found his cradle a practical success, next 
turned his attention to the construction of a hill-side plough ; this 
was patented in 1831, when the future hero of the wheat crops of 
the land was only twenty- two years of age ; this plough could be 
used either as a right or left-hand implement, and threw alternate 
furrows on the lower side of the slope ; but, though a great im- 
provement upon the ploughs then in general use, it did not satisfy 
the inventor, and he soon set to work to improve upon himself, 
and two years later he was enabled to patent a very superior arti- 
cle known as the " self-sharpening horizontal plough." This was 
a very excellent invention, suitable for hilly or level ground. 

In the same year ( 1 8 3 1 ) the famous "reaper" was completed, 
though not with all the improvements now utilized. On the first 
trial of the completed reaper several acres of oats were harvested 
with it; the next year it cut fifty acres of wheat. Slight defects 
were observed which were remedied, and in 1834 he applied for 
and obtained his first patent on his reaper. Removing to Cincin- 
nati he, two years later, obtained a second patent for certain im- 



7 66 CYRUS h. m'cormick. 

provements, and then commenced to manufacture for the market. 
From 1846 to 1848 his reaper was manufactured in Brockport, 
Monroe county, New York, the manufacturers paying the inventor 
a royalty on every reaper sold. Still additional improvements 
called for other patents ; and it was not until the close of 1848 that 
the McCormick reaper attained the perfection which enabled it to 
take the lead of all other reapers in this country or Europe. In 
1847 tn ^ s successful inventor had removed to Chicago, realizing 
at that early day that the location of this incipient railroad centre 
was destined in the near future to take the lead in the com- 
merce of the great Northwest. In 1848 only seven hundred 
of the reapers had been made and sold, but in 1849 fifteen hun- 
dred were called for and produced, and orders flowing in. But just 
as the farmers of the country were waking up to a perception of 
the boon which this machine was conferring upon the country, 
Mr. McCormick was destined to lose the protection of his patent, 
and was forced to enter into competition with a flood of rivals, not 
all of whom were either honest or honorable. Several of his pat- 
ents had been procured in the very incipiency of the invention, 
and these had run out by lapse of time, and the later patents only 
protected a portion of the machine, and the Patent Office officials 
refused to renew any of the patents for the curious but very inter- 
esting reason, that the machine was of such great value to the public^ 
that its protection was against the public interest ! Hence, from a 
very early period after the final perfectioning of the reaper, a 
whole flood of competitors was let loose to prey upon the property 
of the inventor. But Mr. McCormick was not dismayed: he only 
set himself the more resolutely to make the very best machines, 
and having the start of his unscrupulous rivals was enabled to 
keep it, and does keep it to-day. In 1882 over 40,000 reapers 
were made and scattered over both hemispheres. Many of these 
harvesting machines being supplemented with mowers, droppers, 
wire-binders, and twine-binders, which grasp and tie up a sheaf with 
a neatness, precision and despatch that almost looks like magic. 



CYRUS H. • M'CORMICK. . 767 

As long ago as 1859 the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, in an argument 
before the Commissioner of Patents, stated that from reliable 
statistics Mr. McCormick's invention had already contributed to 
the country an increased value of $55,000,000. 

The gigantic factory where these reapers are made in Chicago, 
is in the southwestern part of the city, near where the railroad lines 
converge, occupying the whole block on the lake shore, bounded 
by Randolph and Dearborn streets, the Western avenue and Blue 
Island. The main buildings are 400 by 450 feet and four stories 
high, and are arranged with more consideration for the workmen 
than is usual in such structures. These works employ about 1,500 
men, while in the sale and delivery more than 5,000 persons are 
continually occupied, and still the demand is on the increase. The 
wide dispersion of these reapers may be said to form an endless 
chain of American agricultural implements around the world, in 
every portion of which, wherever there is an intelligent farmer, 
there is also a " McCormick Reaper." Practical tests and compe- 
titions have decided the supremacy of these machines over all 
others. From the very first trial Mr. McCormick has never found 
a successful rival. Other people have made reaping-machines, and 
some of them are very useful and creditable articles, but when 
placed in competition with the " McCormick," each and all have 
had to take second place. The first competitive trial occurred in 
1843, when Mr. Obed Hussay's machine was brought forward with 
great confidence at Richmond, Virginia. From among the spec- 
tators a jury of judges was selected by the people, to decide upon 
the merits of the two reapers. Without hesitation, and to the entire 
satisfaction of the witnesses, the superiority was awarded to the 
"McCormick." Since that time, prizes of all kinds have poured 
in a continual stream into the hands of the fortunate inventor. 

During Mr. McCormick's early experiences, amusing incidents 
often occurred with people who had little or no faith in the "new- 
fangled machine." On one occasion, a trial of his reaper was 
arranged to take place on what is known as the Genesee Flats. 



J6& CYRUS H. M'CORMICK. 

Two neighboring farmers, who thought that the cradles they were 
using were the acme of harvesting machines, hearing that the new 
cutter nvas in the lot, and having the utmost confidence that they 
could reap quicker and cleaner than any new-fashioned machine, 
came " to see the failure," bringing their own cradles with them, 
intending to show the ambitious stranger what they could do ; but 
as they reached the fence, and saw the rapid pace with which the 
McCormick Reaper was travelling over the ground, and doing its 
work in a far more complete style than they had ever witnessed 
before, they quietly hid their cradles in the crook of the fence, and 
slipped away, saddened but wiser men. 

Of Mr. McCormick's two brothers, who entered into business 
with him in 1850, William S. died in 1865 ; Leander J. is the Vice- 
President of the McCormick Harvesting-Machine Company, of 
Chicago. In 1838 Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick married a daughter 
of the late Melzer Fowler, of Detroit. Mr. McCormick's family 
consists of three sons and two daughters. The eldest son now 
(1884) m ms twenty-fifth year is engaged in his father's business, 
and promises to prove a worthy successor to the great inventor. 
The family residence is for the greater part of the year in Chicago, 
but Mr. McCormick has a country-seat at Richfield Springs, New 
York, where the summer is usually spent. Like his Scotch an- 
cestors, Mr. McCormick is an adherent of the Presbyterian faith, 
and is a liberal giver to that denomination, and to many un- 
sectarian charities. He is large-minded and liberal in his hospi- 
talities — the very magnitude of his business operations would 
almost, indeed, preclude the possibility of his cultivating any nar- 
row or petty views in any sphere of his numerous charities. For- 
tunate beyond most men in his grand success, and particularly 
fortunate as an inventor in securing the full fruitage of his crenius, 
he knows how to appreciate the inventive faculty in other men, and 
is always ready to help young inventors in their struggles with for- 
tune. Mr. McCormick is fairly entitled to the appellation, "ben- 
efactor of his race," and his life has been one of great usefulness. 

(Mr. McCormick died suddenly at his home in Chicago on May 13th, 1884, while this book was 
still in the printer's hands.) 



JOHN WANAMAKER. 

John Wanamaker is a name in Philadelphia which commends 
itself to many classes of persons. To both rich and poor it is a 
household word. Linked by his wealth to the circle of millionaires, 
he is bound by still stronger ties to the active Christian brother- 
hood; and to hundreds of needy, both young and old, whom he 
has succored from their wretchedness. John was born near 
Philadelphia, in .1838. His parents were good, Christian peo- 
ple, but had little of this world's goods, and no superfluities 
with which to indulge their love for their children. John's father 
was a brick-maker, and almost as soon as the boy's little hands 
were able to lift a brick, his hours out of school were employed in 
turning bricks which were placed in the sun to dry ; thus habits of 
industry were ingrained in his nature before he was able to ap- 
preciate the benefit this would be to him in after life. When a few 
years older school had to be abandoned for steady employment, 
but he did not care to stay in the brickyard ; he sought and found 
a place in a book store in the city ; it was four miles from his 
home, and the proprietor offered him only $1.25 a week; and 
for this sum he was engaged : having to walk back and forth 
morning and evening, making eight miles a day, and contenting 
himself with very simple lunches brought from home, adding to 
these, sometimes, a two-cent cup of milk. Fortunately he had a 
kind, cheerful mother, whose approving smile encouraged and kept 
him up with the hope of better times ahead ; and her smile, when 
he came home at night, often thoroughly tired out with his day's 
work, was, he used to say, " like a bit of heaven to me." 

But the book business was not to be John's role. He obtained 
a position in a clothing store at $1.50 per week, and in this place he 
49 (769) 



77° JOHN WANAMAKER. 

appears to have found the employment just suited to his taste and 
abilities ; by his civility, promptness and generally obliging qualities 
he pleased both customers and his employer. Whatever he did 
was done with his best will and capacity, and such lads will be sure 
to make their way in time. It was not long before his salary was 
raised, and he began to be looked upon as the certain candidate 
for promotion whenever vacancies occurred. 

Of course under the strained circumstances of his early life his 
school education was very limited, but he learned by reading and 
private study enough to make him appreciate literature and the 
good uses to which it might be applied. It is related of him, how- 
ever, that his first definite impulse towards improving his own edu- 
cation was through hearing a sermon in which the speaker used 
many words which he did not understand ; having a good memory 
he carried these words in mind till he reached home, and could 
consult a dictionary and look up their meaning. Reflecting that 
probably the minister supposed that his adult hearers would under- 
stand him, John Wanamaker came to the conclusion that, as he had 
not, he must be more ignorant than others of the congregation, 
and forthwith made up his mind to remedy his early deficiencies by 
every means in his power ; and so well did he succeed that at the 
age of eighteen he undertook, in connection with another young 
man, to publish a small paper, which was called " Everybody's 
Journal : " he did nearly all the work on it himself after store hours, 
and early in the morning, soliciting for advertisements, and deliver- 
ing the paper to the subscribers. We do not know that this proved 
a grand success financially, but it brought him into contact with a 
larger circle of business men, and as he had the happy faculty of 
pleasing every one whom he met, he greatly increased the number 
of his friends among those who can always appreciate energy and 
push in a young man. 

Up to the age of twenty-three he had continued in the employ- 
ment of the clothier; by this time he had saved a little money — 
not much, for he still felt it necessary to assist his parents. Hav- 



JOHN WANAMAKER. 77 1 

ing got one hundred dollars that he could spare from necessary 
expenses he invested it in the purchase of certain shares in an 
estate, obtaining credit for two-thirds of the value ; by subsequent 
negotiations on this basis he made about $2,000, and with this he 
commenced for himself in the clothing business. He had offers 
inviting him to invest in other kinds of business — some of them 
very alluring; but he had the good sense to "abide in the calling" 
which he understood. The times were not propitious — it was just 
on the outbreak of the war, and prophecies of failure were more 
numerous than agreeable ; but he knew his ground thoroughly and 
was not discouraged. He employed no superfluous help, was not 
ashamed to take down his own shutters, sweep the store, or leave 
a parcel for a customer himself. He also kept his own accounts; 
a very wise thing in the beginning of a small business, as he thus 
knew every day just where he stood, and knew where every cent 
invested in the business was employed. 

Mr. Wanamaker had been gradually enlarging his business, and 
when the nation's centennial approached, he was the owner of the 
largest establishment of the kind in the city. He had, in the fif- 
teen years since he commenced on his own account, added other 
branches of trade to that of clothier, and in 1876 he was the owner 
of three adjacent stores, covering about seven acres, and giving 
employment to three thousand persons. 

Would you think this man had time for anything else than 
money-making? Hardly; and yet see in how many ways his influ- 
ence has been exerted for good, besides giving employment to 
such an immense number of people. He is one of that class like 
Amos Lawrence, of Boston, who, rich as he became, always put 
his religion first, and to whom " godliness " did prove " profitable 
to all things." More than twenty years ago, while still embar- 
rassed by very limited means, John Wanamaker went into one of 
the roughest sections of Philadelphia, and opened a Sunday-school 
in a shop occupied by working shoemakers during the week. It 
was a sort of focus, where low groggeries flourished, and the most 



77 2 JOHN WANAMAKER. 

unruly elements abounded; to the timid it looked even dangerous 
to attempt an innovation of this sort in such a neighborhood. 
" But the worse it is," said gallant young Wanamaker, " the more 
need for introducing the entering-wedge of reform ; " and there is 
certainly no moral wedge more serviceable to begin with than the 
Sunday-school — interest the children and the parents will follow. 
When the warm weather came, his school had increased so largely 
that a tent was erected for its use with the aid of Christian friends. 
The children began to bring their parents to visit the school, and 
to hear the singing, and none of the rough population ever 
attempted any disturbance or interfered with the teachers. In 
fact, Mr. Wanamaker soon made many of them such friends, as 
would have become defenders had it been necessary. This school 
was called the "Bethany Sunday-school," and has now grown to 
such proportions as have very few in the land. It numbers among 
its attendants 3,000 children. Naturally, the accommodations had 
to be increased, and the " Bethany " school now occupies a beau- 
tiful large stone building; the main hall frescoed in blue and gold, 
with comfortable seats, a good library, and a pleasant, sparkling 
fountain adorning the centre of the room. Soon a church grew 
up beside the school, mainly formed out of families first led out of 
the depths through their children's interest in the Sunday-school. 
Certainly it is not without reason that this sentence is wrought out 
upon the facade of the Bethany building: "A little child shall lead 
them ! " To this good work Mr. Wanamaker has contributed 
$60,000. 

In the Moody and Sankey meetings in Philadelphia, Mr. Wana- 
maker was a prominent and efficient helper. He was one of the 
original organizers of the Christian Commission, and for fourteen 
years has been the President of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation of Philadelphia, and during this period has contributed 
about $100,000 to the institution; this office he has, however, 
lately resigned on account of his many other engagements ; but 
he proves that he has not lost his interest in it, as he has spent 



JOHN WANAMAKER. 773 

much time in raising funds for the enlargement of the library. A 
few years ago he established an industrial school at his country- 
place in Bethany. This very valuable institution aims to give to 
its pupils such an education as will enable them to earn their own 
living, and is for girls as well as boys, of which together there are 
now 500 under instruction ; in addition to the ordinary studies 
there are taught telegraphy, stenography, book-keeping, drawing, 
painting, skilled sewing, embroidery, and cooking ; this is presided 
over by the Rev. Dr. Pierson. Near to his country residence he 
has built a church for the convenience of his own family and 
neighbors. 

Other enterprises not strictly charitable or religious have also 
claimed his attention. At the time of the Centennial Exposition, 
Mr. Wanamaker was naturally looked to as a solid support to the 
project, and he took hold of it with the energy with which he 
handled everything he touched. He was Chairman of the Bureau 
of Revenue, and aided by the Board of Finance, raised the first 
million dollars for the project, which assured its ultimate success. 
He was also Chairman of the Press Committee, and in many ways, 
official and unofficial, aided to carry the work to completion. Mr. 
Wanamaker is a man very much alive ; there is no shadow of 
apathy or indifference in his make-up; he is still comparatively a 
young man, and has the prospect of living many years yet, in 
which he may hope to reap a large harvest of gratitude from the 
good seed of wisely charitable deeds, which he has been sowing 
for twenty years. 



"JOHNNY" SKAE. 

It is always unpleasant to have to chronicle a failure ; but to this 
terminus an over-active imagination is apt to lead ; to be able to 
see things as they are, and to approximate the truth as to future 
changes, is a necessary ingredient of success in speculative pur- 
suits. The subject of this sketch was at one time the most prom- 
inent figure among the incipient millionaires of California and 
Nevada. He has seen the heights and depths of the speculator's 
fortune, has entertained the bonanza princes with a lavishness 
unsurpassed even in that land of nouveaux riches, and has been 
himself entertained at the city's expense, because unable to pay a 
fine of five dollars, imposed by a local magistrate for intoxication ; 
but the end is not yet, and "Johnny" Skae may some day fall 
upon his feet again, and astonish both friends and enemies by the 
acquisition of a fourth fortune. 

Mr. John Skae is of mixed race ; a native of Canada, of Scotch- 
Irish parentage. His first appearance in the mining country, so 
far as is recorded, was as a telegraph operator in Nevada, where he 
was mainly employed in transmitting messages from the company 
working the Comstock lode, in its palmy days, to the office in San 
Francisco ; much of this information was conveyed in cipher, but 
Mr. Skae was not long in getting at a solution of these mysteries, 
and with the knowledge thus obtained, he was no longer content 
to remain recording the successes of others ; compelled from 
necessity to commence his operations in the smallest way, yet 
having the clue in his hands, at this time he could make no mis- 
take, and by degrees he was able to enlarge his operations ; and 
once possessed of a few thousand dollars, he threw up his position 
as telegrapher, and started for San Francisco, to enter the lists 
(774) 



"johnny" skae. 775 

with the veterans of the stock exchange. It was here that Mr. 
Skae's sanguine disposition misled him ; feeling himself on the 
sure road to wealth, he set no bounds to his imagination, and 
already pictured himself as distancing all his competitors in the 
race for gold. Besides the possession of a naturally sanguine 
temperament, the profession of telegraphy probably assisted in the 
development of this peculiar trait of always expecting great things; 
it keeps the imagination active ; the partial information, the hints 
and suggestions, the attempts at concealment, exciting messages 
and rejoinders, all have a tendency to keep the mind of the operator 
on the alert, and watchful for the chances that he realizes some 
are seizing and some missing, all passing like a moving phan- 
tasmagoria before his eyes — real, if invisible. The very element 
of electricity with which the telegrapher deals has an effect upon 
the nerves, excites its sensibilities, and the speed with which it acts 
has its retroactive influence upon the operator. He too wants to 
accomplish everything instantaneously ; plodding patience could 
scarcely be expected of any one who is in the daily habit of using 
modified lightning as a messenger. 

So at least it proved in Mr. Skae's case. Shortly after he began 
to deal in stocks he obtained the management of the Virginia and 
Gold Hill Water-Works, a company that at one time paid almost 
as good dividends as the mines which they supplied, and the posi- 
tion was one which offered opportunities for profit, of which Mr. 
Skae was not slow to avail himself. At this juncture the secret 
came out of the discovery of the " great bonanza." Johnny Skae 
was wild with excitement. He had a small quantity of the stock 
when it began to rise, and, as one of his friends expressed himself, 
" Johnny dashed at the market with astounding recklessness, 
following the securities until Consolidated Virginia was close to 
the thousand dollar limit, and California about as high." When 
this finely-manipulated "deal" struck bottom and the furore 
abated ; when people had time to look around and pick up the 
dead and wounded, Johnny Skae was found to be among the 



776 "JOHNNY SKAE. 

victors, with a clean $3,000,000 to his credit. Had he stopped 
there and then, waiting until healthier times had arrived, it had 
been the better for him. but the fever was on him — from dealing 
in securities he persisted in dealing in evident insecurities. To 
cover his operations he now began to act through brokers, and, 
worse, to defy luck by "doubling up," and his margins became too 
attenuated to bear the pressure. His $3,000,000 was fast melting 
away ; the real properties he had won with had already become 
speculative, and among these was the Sierra Nevada mine, of 
w T hich he was the president. It had done well at first, but the 
stock was fast getting down to " bedrock," and Mr. Skae wanted 
to get rid of it. Other mines were decreasing in value at the 
same time. Something- must be done. What was done we leave 
those most familiar with stock speculations to guess. Mr. Skae 
started on a journey ostensibly to the Eastern States. He had 
not reached a third of the way when he was overtaken by a tele- 
gram informing him that there were strong indications of a "big 
bonanza " in Sierra Nevada. He hired a special train and whirled 
back to San Francisco in such evident haste and apparent excite- 
ment that public attention was necessarily drawn to the fact. He 
made a vigorous charge on the market, put all he had into the 
hands of his brokers, and, after over-shooting his margin, bought 
on his broker's money until Sierra Nevada stood at $278. He 
had once before played this game with Consolidated Virginia and 
California, and the trick appeared to have again succeeded, and 
for a brief period he shone as the bright particular star at the 
stock exchange. Excited men called him the " father of the new 
bonanza," and his own visions helped to lure him on to another 
disaster. But for the moment he stood supreme ; that there were 
"millions in it" he never doubted, and his sanguine imagination 
led him readily to believe that he was to become the unapproacha- 
ble Croesus of the Pacific Coast, if not of the United States. 
The doggerel poets set to work to pamper his conceit, and one 
more inventive than the rest wrote a laudatory poem, entitled 



"johnny" skae. 777 

"Johnny Skae's Ride," in imitation of "Sheridan's Ride," and 
comparing the victory of the money king with that of the famous 
cavalryman. Instead of discouraging fulsome and tasteless flat- 
tery, the versifier was rewarded with the present of one hundred 
dollars, which unwonted compensation set all the other rhymsters 
to work, and very soon the impecunious Bohemians were jingling 
gold-pieces in their pockets in the place of nickels. 

A recklessness, born of the thought that he could create a 
boom in stocks whenever he chose, seems to have taken posses- 
sion of Mr. Skae ; he did foolish and extravagant things, appar- 
ently with no other motive than to be talked about. He took to 
poker, playing in a wild way, as if determined to ruin others or 
himself. It was currently reported and believed that he lost $60,- 
000 at this game in one night at the Palace Hotel. While out at 
Virginia City his reckless expenditures took another form ; this 
was fish dinner parties and champagne. Fine trout and other fish 
could be caught in the Carson river, and friends were invited by 
the car-load to come all the way from San Francisco to Nevada to 
share in these banquets, Mr. -Skae, of course, paying all the 
travelling expenses. These great feasts, for want of room else- 
where, were spread out-of-doors under canvas near the great 
reservoir of the Virginia and Gold Hill water-works. Hand-fed 
trout, tame enough to be easily caught by these millionaire anglers, 
were offered as a mild "sport" or pastime to the invited guests. 
We repeat " invited," for on these occasions, especially after the 
champagne had begun to flow, almost anybody in Gold Hill might 
join themselves to the revelers and receive a hearty welcome. 
About these times he was not "Johnny," but " Prince John." Dur- 
ing this flush period Mr. Skae settled $250,000 on his wife, but it is 
thought that when misfortune overtook him this too went into 
the abyss which swallowed up the rest. In these days of pros- 
perity he was possessed with the idea that Sierra Nevada would 
touch $1,000, and on that false basis he hypothecated his stock to 
the Nevada Bank and purchased several thousand additional shares 



77% "johnny" skae. ' 

on a margin ; then the tide turned and Sierra began to drop. Soon 
it was quoted at $60, at $50, and less ; the crash came suddenly, 
and ruin stared Mr. Skae in the face, but instead of trying to save 
something from the wreck, he kept on speculating, after all possi- 
bility of improvement was gone, until he had lost his last dollar. 

After this misfortune trod hard upon his heels. He took to 
heavy drinking, was taken to the hospital with an attack of small- 
pox, and then in jail as a vagrant. He afterwards went to Ari- 
zona, aided to get away by some old friends ; and it was recently 
reported that he had again rallied, physically and financially, and 
was possibly on the way to a new fortune. 




THOMAS W. EVANS. 



DR. THOMAS W. EVANS. 

Dr. Thomas W. Evans, the famous American dentist in Paris, 
is a native of Philadelphia, and though so long resident abroad, 
never forgot his republican home, or that he was a citizen of the 
United States. His family was of Welsh stock, and some of his 
ancestors were Quakers ; he studied dentistry in the Dental 
College of his native city, and after practising some time in Penn- 
sylvania, was invited by Dr. Brewster, then settled in Paris, to 
come to that city and assist him, his clientage being too extensive 
for one person. Dr. Evans, besides being a skilful man in his 
profession, had the good fortune to be " very presentable ; " he 
was a handsome man, and possessed the one really distinguishing 
feature of the royal houses of Europe — very small and finely-shaped 
hands ; a great recommendation, when the hands are destined to 
manipulate the interior of the mouth. He had also a peculiarly 
fine set of white, well-formed teeth, a fq^ture not easily overlooked 
when he smiled — and to smile was with him a daily duty. 

When the " Man of December " had accomplished his coup 
d'etat, Dr. Brewster, desiring to retire from business, sold out his 
establishment to Dr. Evans, and with it a monopoly of the Court 
practice. Louis Napoleon had not forgotten that his mother, 
Hortense, and his grandmother, the Empress Josephine, had both 
lost their teeth when comparatively young women, and he had a 
horror of suffering the same kind of loss ; hence, he was very 
ready to welcome the handsome American dentist, whose manners 
were more courtly than many " to the manner born," and whose 
skill was vouched for by his very successful predecessor. 

Dr. Evans' office was in the Rue de la Paix, and no sooner was 
it known that he had been received with favor at the Tuileries, 

(779) 



780 DR. THOMAS W. EVANS. 

than his success at Paris was assured ; and he might, if he had 
chosen, been occupied every hour of the twenty-four by the elite 
of the Imperial circle ; but he knew how to make himself valued, 
by not sacrificing himself too completely to business. He always 
held that he " was a gentleman before he was a dentist," and kept 
his own court in his very agreeable yet dignified way ; but every 
morning, when the Emperor was in Paris, he was present at his 
toilet, and watched over the condition of his teeth as sedulously 
as a young mother for the first incisor of her infant, and he suc- 
ceeded in preserving them until his Imperial patient removed from 
the Tuileries to Chiselhurst. A more delicate office was that of 
'supervising the dental anatomy of the Empress. Eugenie was a 
Spaniard born, and though understanding the French perfectly, 
she had never been able to free herself entirely from the Castilian 
accent ; hence, though she used the language constantly, she was 
aware that some of her most obsequious courtiers secretly smiled 
at her foreign pronunciation ; but with the English language, with 
which she had been familiar from childhood, she was quite at 
home, and consequently enjoyed her daily chat with the American 
dentist. He was an intelligent observer, and an agreeable COnVer- 
sationalist ; with excellent tact and knowledge of human nature, he 
knew what topics to introduce and what to suppress ; the Empress 
and her English-speaking dentist thus became very good friends. 
Moreover, Dr. Evans, with all his suavity, was accustomed to 
speak honest truths in the boudoir of Eugenie, when he believed 
that she would not otherwise hear what she ought to know, and 
he never so far forgot his Quaker training as to dissimulate or 
flatter the Empress to her injury ; there was always sufficient 
undercurrent of true manliness in his nature to preserve him from 
the base sycophancy which some would have thought befitting in 
a professional attendance upon crowned heads. 

It was not only in Paris that Dr. Evans found royal patients ; 
his reputation led to his receiving invitations to other capitals in 
Europe, to save or restore the teeth of the sovereigns and those 



DR. THOMAS W. EVANS. 78 1 

of their families ; and the costly gifts which he received would 
almost furnish an art museum ; and some of these souvenirs were 
likenesses of his princely patients. The Empress Augusta, of 
Prussia, among other things presented him with two elegant Dres- 
den vases, superbly decorated with representations of her own 
royal residences — one of the castle at Potsdam, and the other of the 
Stolzenpels. Ribbons and orders were presented him without stint, 
and should he wear all at any one time he would be nearly covered 
with them : these do not include, of course, such orders as that of 
the "Garter," the "Golden Fleece," or the "Black Eagle." 

During the war of secession in the United States Dr. Evans 
took a noble and decided stand for the Union, for despite his long 
residence in Europe and his constant intercourse with various 
courts, he retained a warm love for his country, and he had the 
hereditary Quaker hatred of slavery. The late Thurlow Weed, 
who knew him well, early engaged him to use his influence with 
Napoleon, and particularly to set the truth of affairs before his 
imperial patient. 

That Dr. Evans was not influenced altogether by his business 
interests in his constant attendance upon the occupants of the 
Tuileries, was shown when the reverses of the Franco-German 
war followed in such quick succession ; he felt a real friendship for 
Louis Napoleon and Eugenie, and showed himself to be both a 
brave and chivalrous man on that gloomy day in September, 1870, 
when after the news of Sedan the " Republic " was proclaimed in 
Paris. Eugenie, alone in the Tuileries, was deserted by all her 
courtiers and fair-weather friends : the officials of the palace fled 
at the first cry of " Vive le Republique ! " She knew not where 
among all her noble friends it was safe to seek an asylum, when 
the happy thought struck her to go to her friend Dr. Evans. 
Fortunately the Italian minister, who feared the Tuileries might 
be sacked, as it afterwards was, procured a cab for the Empress 
and her one lady in waiting. Arrived at his private residence 
Eugenie found that Mrs. Evans was out of the city, and the Doctor 



7^2 DR. THOMAS W. EVANS. 

temporarily absent ; but so certain was she that she could trust to 
his friendship that she determined to remain there and await his 
coming rather than to risk seeking an asylum elsewhere. His 
servants had happily not recognized her, and she passed for a 
patient who had sought him out of the usual course, driven by an 
aching tooth, to come to his house, because he had not been 
found at his office. The Empress having in her haste left the 
Tuileries without any change of clothing, or even a suitable street 
dress, Dr. Evans did not hesitate to draw on his wife's wardrobe 
for the necessary garments ; he then drove the Empress and 
Madame Lebreton in his own carriage to the coast of Normandy, 
where he procured them a safe conveyance to England. 

Thus to the chivalry of an American citizen was the exiled Em- 
press indebted for her safe transit through Paris, and spared the 
indignities, if not the absolute dangers, of possible recognition 
and detention by the excited " Commune." It also appears that 
in the times of prosperity Dr. Evans had not failed, even to risk 
offending his imperial patients by telling them the true state of 
preparation of the German army, of which he had become informed 
during his visits to Berlin; but perhaps it was quite natural for 
the Emperor to think these views of the Doctor were dictated by 
over-anxious fears for the safety of his patrons, and to conclude 
that in all probability his own officers knew better the comparative 
condition of the Gallic and German forces than any one in civil 
life had the means of doing. It is pleasant to think that Dr. Evans 
as an American had such a striking opportunity of proving his 
faithfulness, and the sincerity of his friendship for the fallen Em- 
press ; even better than when in the prosperous days of the em- 
pire he presented the Emperor with a span of splendid American 
horses from Vermont, of pure Morgan stock. His wealth is 
great ; certainly no dentist in the world ever had a better oppor- 
tunity to amass a fortune by honorable means, and this he has 
done. His property being mainly in Europe, no exact estimate 
can be made of its amount. 



JAMES W. HALE. 

James W. Hale, who calls himself the "father of cheap postage," 
and in whose active brain originated the germ of the express 
business in this country, is one of those men seldom heard of in 
financial circles, but who has been a habitue of Wall street for 
over forty years, and has only recently changed his location to 
Hanover street. In his early life Mr. Hale essayed to become a 
printer, and was for some time a " printer's devil," or boy of all 
work, in a printing office ; he stayed at the trade long enough to 
become a compositor, but concluded there were quicker ways of 
making money than by " sticking type ; " so he turned his atten- 
tion to what was in a measure "expressing," but it was not large 
packages that he carried but letters. The postage on letters was 
originally most exorbitant, and many of our readers will remem- 
ber when eighteen cents was the charge for a letter anywhere 
within the United States. Mr. Hale carried letters at a reduced 
rate, and was frequently arrested for so doing. Indeed this veteran 
expressman boasts that he has been arrested more times than 
any other person in the country, and puts the number of times 
at four hundred and fifty ! He is very proud of having convicted 
Daniel Webster of inaccuracy in stating that he was a violator of 
the law. 

Mr. Webster, understanding that he was carrying letters, had 
said : " Mr. Hale, you will be in the penitentiary before many 
days." 

"No, Mr. Webster," he replied, "there is no law that can put 
me in the penitentiary," and so it proved. 

Being arrested in Baltimore and charged with carrying letters 
contrary to law, he at once admitted the several acts which had 

(783) 



784 JAMES W. HALE. 

been testified to before Judge Story ; but on the district attorney 
asking that he be sentenced on his own confession, Mr. Hale 
called the attention of the court to the letter of the law, which 
read : " Nobody shall establish a horse or foot post," etc. Mr. Hale 
submitted that he had used neither, but had travelled by steam- 
boats and railroads. By thus cutting rates on letters, which was 
becoming a common practice with imitators of Mr. Hale, he believes 
that he forced the government to reduce the postage, so as to 
make it unprofitable for private parties to attempt to outbid the 
Post-office Department. 

Mr. Hale is still in vigorous health, and still adding to the for- 
tune he has rolled up by steady degrees in Wall street; he is over 
seventy, and has just been elected a school trustee, in which 
capacity he says : " If there is any reform needed, I shall go for it 
— if I am seventy." 



H 25* 79 



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